


The Raw Red Truth

by Sica520



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: After D-stabilized, Answer: not well, Bad Coping Habits, Bigotry & Prejudice, Character studies, Complicated Relationships, Creepy, F/M, Grey Ghost - Freeform, Identity Reveal, Probably not this., Reconciliation, The kids are not ok, What are healthy ways to deal with things?, all of the insane feelings, and a bit of body horror and inhuman behavior, because how do you adjust to finding out your enemy and your crush is the same person?, because we need more grey ghost stories, ghost psychology, what are functioning emotions?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-01-31 06:57:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 23,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18586120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sica520/pseuds/Sica520
Summary: Valarie Grey wasn't an idiot. She was suspicious. She had put the pieces together. She knew. And now she was going to get answers one way or another. Which lead to the note in Danny Fenton's locker:You owe me. You owe me an explanation. You owe me the truth. Meet me where this mess all started tomorrow night at 9pm. I would say come unarmed, but we both know that that's not an option for either of us. Let's finish this.Red.





	1. Valarie's POV

**Author's Note:**

> So I have been recently encouraged to actually post the stuff I write for a change. So here is my version of the confrontation between Phantom and the Red Huntress. This is probably gonna hurt. Anyway there are not enough Grey Ghost fanfics. This is my take on what Valarie's response might be. I see a lot of people who stick with either 1) she forgives him, completely changes her entire outlook on ghosts, and gives into her own guilt or 2) she completely rejects him and refuses to believe it. I personally think that it would be a lot more complicated than that. Also you may have noticed I shoved as many of my own head cannons in here as possible, because a half ghost should be freaking creepy and we need more people acknowledging that Valarie is not exactly 100% human anymore either. So hope you enjoy my look into this absolute mess of a relationship.

You _owe_ me. You owe me an explanation. You owe me the _truth_. Meet me where this mess all started tomorrow night at 9pm. I would say come unarmed, but we both know that that's not an option for either of us. Let's _finish_ this.

  
Red.  

* * *

 

Valerie Gray had put that letter in Danny Fenton's locker yesterday. She had spent hours trying to come up with what to say. The first couple times she had been too angry to write anything coherent. In her rooms trash can there were probably about fifty crumpled up pages full of insults and tears (and some choice words she hopes her dad doesn't find).

What she settled on in the end was as good as it was gonna get. It was straight to the point, with a justified amount of anger and a clear threat of violence. However, there was also an underlying plee that she knew she couldn't hide sufficiently. If she was right, then he would _understand_.

And then... what?

Would he even come?

Maybe she was wrong.

She kept seeing _flashes_  of white rings appearing around the little ghost girl, _changing_ her into something else.

The ghost girl who had destroyed her entire world view. The ghost girl who was supposedly the cousin of Phantom. Who was practically identical to him. Who had the same name for crying out loud. Wouldn't make sense that that wasn't the only thing that was the same about them. What are the odds they would be so similar in every way, except one. One way, one extremely important way. One way that would change everything she had ever thought before.

An impossibility. A paradox. An insane idea. 

But, she had seen the proof with her own eyes. 

Dead. _Flash_. Alive.

Ghost. _Flash_. Human.

Blinding unnaturally white hair, toxic ghostly green eyes, and sickly green tinted skin that was clearly glowing in the dark. _Flash_. Dark black hair, icy blue eyes and pale cacausion skin.

She _wasn't_ an idiot. She could connect the dots.

She just hated the picture that they had created.

* * *

 

It was 8:43pm. The red analogue letters were glowing in the corner of her vision.

She didn't really need a watch anymore.

She had clocked out at exactly 8:30pm. After clocking out she had flown here.

She almost wished her sled was slower, because now she had to _wait_.

She sat on the hill overlooking Axion Labs. Her father's old job. Where this whole mess had started. Anger surged through her at the sight of it. Burning anger that coursed through every cell in her body. She could feel it like fire in her very veins.

Along with something else, something _foreign_ inside her blood stream. If she concentrated long enough she would _feel_ it. During those rare moments when her thoughts died down and there was absolute silence, her body _hummed_ like some sort of generator. Machinery wirring in tune with her volatile emotional state.

It was never _trully_ quiet anymore.

Valarie sighed. She was keyed up. She was bored. She needed something to do.

She gave into her morbid curiosity in her boredom, and began slowly putting on and taking off her right glove. Staring at her hand. Watching as the red seamless technology vanished back _inside_ her and then re-covered her skin, over and over. It obeyed her every thought. A second layer that was always there, she could still feel _through_ the suit. She could still _feel_ it when she wasn't suited up, _through_ her skin; the electrical power buzzing away underneath. It was _freaky_.

Human and ghost forced together in a horribly _unnatural_ way.

Human hand. _Flashes_. Red ghostly glowing armor.

_Her_ human hand. The feeling of something moving around in her blood as sparks appeared. _Her_ armor. Her armor given to her by a _ghost,_ and this new and improved model that she never really thought to question where it came from.

That was so stupid. _Something binds itself to you, gets under your skin, and invades your thoughts, and you don't think to find out what it is and where it came from. What the hell is wrong with you?_ She asked herself. 

How had everything gotten so out of hand? How had her life transformed into a living sci-fi supernatural nightmare? But of course she knew how.

Or more accurately _who_.

But perhaps she had more than one person to blame now.

8:51pm

_Ugh_ , this was driving her mad. Who was she kidding, _why on earth would he show up_? He must know that he would be walking straight into a trap. Facing her firing squad.

But she had no one else to explain any of this to her. Of all the people with the answers it had to be _him._

8:57pm

Maybe she was wrong.

Maybe Danielle was an anomaly. The only one of her kind. 

Except she already knew that the girl wasn't the only one who was this impossible being.

So how many were there?

It was a terrifying thought. To think that any ghost had the potential to be a human. That any human could really be a ghost.  

Ghost and human existing as the same person. The perfect disguise, because who would ever suspect that something could be _both_ dead _and_ alive at the same time.

Maybe, she was just being paranoid. 

She was probably wrong. 

Maybe everything was just a coincidence. The similar name, the oddly timed "bathroom breaks", the strangeness that surrounded him, and the mysterious and impossible ghost girl that looked like she could be his twin sister.

God, She was so _stupid_.

9:00 pm

Nothing happened. No sign of him.

9:01pm

She must have missed something. She must be wrong.

_Please_ _oh please, let me be wrong._

9:02pm

She was an idiot.

Should she just go home?

9:03pm

Or stay on the off chance he would come?

What if she went home and then he came?

_Uhhhhhgggg_ she can't just leave. She has to give him a bit more time.

9:06pm

She was fooling herself.

He's not coming.

9:07pm

She should leave.

9:09pm

She was about to leave, when all of sudden something happened.

The warm spring night became cold. The park around her became _silent_.

_Dead_ silent. Harsh and unnatural.

A literal alarm sounded in her head. Her suit spread to completely cover her, instantly, obeying her subconscious command. She turned so fast that if not for the suit she would have probably gotten whip lash.

There was a figure off in the distance of the woods. Her enhanced vision could easily pick him out. And when it switched briefly to infrared she could see him even clearer, standing out admidst all the living warm-blooded creatures.

He eerily came forward without a single sound. No branches that crunched under his feet. No sounds of the animals, it was as if they'd all been scared off. No sounds of breathing. He slowly came into the clearing.

She readied her weapon. 

She raised her gun and pointed it at scrawny little Danny Fenton. That made her hesitate.

Fenton. He looked so confused and scared.

The _unnatural_ silence stretched on.

"I uh...Um uh... Sorry I'm late. I... Um got your note, I mean... Obviously....I wouldn't be here in the middle night if I didn't...heh," his voice sounded off in the strange quietness. He rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke; she knew that was a nervous habit of his. "So...Uh anyway... wh... I mean why... Why did... the uh... Red Huntress leave a note in... _my_ locker?," his voice shook. Fenton was so timid and he seemed terrified. So dorky and innocent and incapable of hurting a fly. 

_No_ , she reminded herself. _He is using you, this is an act._ He _knows_ why she left that note. He was hoping to throw her off, make her think that simple wimpy Fenton was not who she was after.

It almost worked too, she almost believed that he didn't know who she was or what the note was talking about. But she couldn't let herself be fooled. Not again. "Do you really expect me to believe that you _don't_ know? That you just decided to come when you had _no_ context. No clue who wrote the note or what it meant,"

He gave a nervous embarrassed chuckle, "Wouldn't be the dumbest thing I've ever done,"

"No, I suppose it wouldn't," she spat. He flinched. _Good_. "don't insult my intelligence! I know you know what this is about! At the very least you wouldn't know to be here, here here Axion labs; where it all started. Where _you_ ruined my life!" His eye's widened in shock and then understanding flicked across his face.

He looked both embarrassed and ashamed. _Good_.

Valarie had hidden the location in context, that he wouldn't know if she was wrong about him, for this very reason. ' _Meet me where it all started'_ , but nothing had ' _started'_ between Fenton and the Red Huntress, so had she been wrong he wouldn't have known where to meet.

Their conversation didn't have to be here. They could have met up somewhere else, anywhere else and he would have played dumb, played weak and she would have _believed_ him. She _wished_ she could believe him.

She still desperately _wanted_ to be wrong.

But the very fact that he was here at all proved she wasn't and was one of the only reasons she hadn't fallen for his tricks again. "No more lies! I want. The. _Truth_ ," Her gun was still pointed at Danny Fenton. It unnerved her to be threatening the boy, her _crush_ , from her class. It was just _wrong_ to point a gun at a human.

_Maybe I should put it down_.

_No._

_No_. Just that thought alone made her feel worried and unbalanced. She couldn't be unprotected. She couldn't lose this advantage. If she was right, then he was dangerous. She had to constantly remind herself,  _he is dangerous. Even more so when he's pretending not to be.You cannot let yourself be fooled because of your stupid crush. You are going to get yourself killed doing that._

He's _not_ human. Therefore it wasn't wrong to point a gun at him.

He sighed. "Right, I know. I know. You are right. I owe you the truth," he looked at her his blue eyes shining in pain and crocodile tears, as he repeated the words in her letter. "Promise you won't shoot me?" He asked with a pitiful crooked smile. 

She made no move to lower her weapon and gave him no promises.

"...Right of course not, ...OK then," he was so nervous.

He was afraid of her. _Good_.

"You... You _know_. I mean of course you figured it out. You always were smart. You already know everything, the truth, who I am . ...or at least you _suspect_ something is up and that's why you sent me that note. And now you... want to... what? Finish this... Finish me?...But if that's the case why not just blast me now... Not that I want you to, of course... Just it doesn't fit your usual method...I mean I don't think I have ever known you to hesitate... Unless...Oh... Oh... you're still unsure, aren't you... You want proof... And you want it from me... You want to hear it from me,...You're just waiting for me to confirm your suspicions aren't you?" He was rambling. Another nervous Danny Fenton trait. _Another trick_.

"Well? Do you confirm them?" _Please say no. Please spin another tale_ , _something believable that I can accept_. _You have lied to my face so many times before, that it must be effortless for you by now. Please,_ a part of her begged, _keep the lie going._

_Tell me I am wrong._

He nodded. Then wordlessly he adopted the position of surrender. Suddenly what she had been dreading, but nevertheless expecting, appeared.

_Flash_.

Human to ghost.

Danny to Phantom.

Friend to foe. She was _right_. Here was the undeniable proof.

"I _knew_ it," She poured all her pain and anger into those three soft words. She was right. But, oh how she wished she wasn't.

"I'm so sorry, Val" his whisper echoed in the stale dead air. His voice sounded so similar but also foreign; it had a creepy lilt to it like the wind whistling through the trees.

He braced himself for her shot.

It didn't come.

Valarie couldn't take the shot now. How could she? She couldn't. Not when she _knew_. Not when she was _right_. Not when it was _him._

Her gun vanished, back inside her. And the Red Huntress, the living weapon, fell to her knees before her cornered prey. Phantom looked torn between relief and pity, as he realized that she wasn't going to shoot him.

It was _humiliating_. Or it would have been if she had been able to feel anything other than pain.

Denile shattered. She cycled through her overwhelmed feelings. What did she feel? What did she think? Her brain was short-circuiting, and she really really hoped that was only an apt metaphor.

_Pain. Heartbreak. Betrayal. Despair. Anger. Confusion. Numbness._

Her systems were fried. Her suit retreated like a wounded soldier, leaving a vulnerable little girl behind. Her tears burned as they ran down her face. "I _wanted_ to be wrong." She whispered in a shell shocked voice. " _Why_ did it... Have to be... Why.. _you_ ," He flinched again.

"Val I..."

" _Don't_! Don't call me that! Don't act like we are friends! And Don't. You. Dare. Pity. Me. You... You... You _ghost_!" Anger felt better than despair, but it took more effort to rant and yell. She couldn't do this forever.

He had the audacity to look hurt. It fueled the dwindling embers of her rage. "I knew that the A-listers weren't really my _friends_. Of course, I did I am not stupid or naïve. They stuck around because of my dad's connections and paycheck! When they threw me out like last season's fashion trends, I wasn't surprised. Angry, yes. Betrayed, yes. But surprised, no. And don't even get me started on the benefactor Vlad Masters. It's the game of the rich and snobby, one I have known all my life. None of them actually cared about  _me_ , I knew that. Yeah, of course it didn't stop me from being involved with them, but deep down I knew how _fake_ they were. But _you_..." Small dorky Fenton, he had been the only good thing about school for a while. It had hurt so much to break it off with him, but nothing compared to _this;_ this pain was blinding. "I thought you might actually _care_! That you were a genuine friend. Someone who I could _trust_!" She broke again and her voice became so much more vulnerable as she seemed to shrink. "I never thought that you would use me too. I never pegged you as one with ulterior motives,"

"Val... I would never... I _am_ your friend. I _never_ meant to hurt you,"

"You expect me to believe that?" She gave a bitter laugh. "You _knew_! _You knew who I was_ , you even outed me to my dad! You knew and still tried to get close to me. Hell, you _dated_ me. What the heck is  _wrong_ with you! _Why_ would you do that! Was it fun for you? Knowing that I was falling hopelessly in love with my _enemy_?!" She should not be telling him this, she was feeding into his hand. Admitting that she was in love with him. That was so stupidly dangerous. 

Even now, when she could see the shadow of the boy she knew within this inhuman monster, It took everything she had not to fall for it. But she had been manipulated by everyone, she wouldn't let herself trust him; she was done playing the pawn. "Did you do it for some sick _amusement_? To get petty _revenge_? A ploy, so that when you finally had me completely wrapped around your finger, you could strike? Did you want information from me?" She remembered using his friend in a similar way. She also knew that a part of her got close to him for information on what his parents did. At least originally.

Then he won her over with his shy kindness and surprisingly sharp tounge. He was a dork, who could name every star in the sky. He was an idiot who would mouth off to Dash, and yet wouldn't stand up to him. He thought puns and sarcasm were the pinicles of humour, and went out of his way to get her to laugh at his awful corny jokes. He was a loser who was courteous and so old school polite when they had dated.

But he was a _Fenton_ , of course he was involved with ghosts. She was an idiot. "Was it out of guilt and pity that you became my friend?! Was ruining my life once, not fricken enough for you?!?!"

"Val... I... Do you.... Do you honestly think I would do any of that? That I am that kind of person?"

" _Honestly_??!!" That word was so dementedly funny and the warped laugh exploded out of her "Interesting choice of words there! As if you have ever been _honest_! Do you even know the meaning of that word? Because I do and I _honestly_ ," she cruelly sank that word deep into his core; it was an effective weapon at her disposal and she would use it. "don't know what you are capable of! I _honestly_ " he seemed to glow a little less bright as each wound hit. _G_ _ood_. "don't know what kind of person you are! _Honestly_?!?" _How does it feel phantom, knowing that your game won't work on me? I may be a frickin idiot, but I won't be taken in by you._ "I don't know _you_! How could I? When everything you said and did was a _lie_!"

"Yes, OK! I _lied_ to you! Yes, I kept this from you. Yeah, maybe I felt a little bit guilty about what had happened and I wanted to make up for it. It was a _mistake_ , Val. I messed up with your dad's company and I am sorry. But. I. Didn't. Do. It. On. _Purpose_!" His anger was more controlled then her breakdown, but she couldn't mistake it for anything other than anger with those harshly glowing eyes.

Somehow it was so much worse because of how collected he seemed, even when he was obviously boiling over with rage. "I am so _sick_ _and_ _tired_ of you freaking _blaming_ me for _everything_!"

He was going to strike.

She was compromised. If he wanted to he could easily be rid of her.

And why wouldn't he want to? They were enemies, after all. 

She thought for a second that he might.

But then Phantom's anger subsided into something softer, an expression that would be more at home on Danny Fenton's face. He looked like he was also in pain. His eyes, the windows to his toxic ghostly soul, communicated a deep sorrow. _Empathy_. Something that ghosts definitely shouldn't have. ".... But that brief time that we dated? I was so happy, Val. We were so _happy_. Are you going to tell me that it meant nothing? I dated you, because I wanted to. Not because of any nefarious plot, but because I thought you were pretty cool. I still think you are really cool. You are passionate, stubborn, strong, and... beautiful," was that a glowing green blush? Could he even blush? Was that too a trick? "Was it all kinds of messed up that you wanted me dead!? Yes! But hey my life is all kinds of messed up anyway! Hell, my own parents want to tear me apart molecule by molecule! I think I can handle a girlfriend who tries to waste me every now and then." He was turning serious matters into jokes, again. Something that she hated when he did as Phantom. But she had laughed along with and appreciated when Fenton did it. He sighed, "The point is, you _do_ know me. I am the same Danny Fenton you knew. The way I felt about you, what we had, was real. Please _believe_ me, I would never hurt you,"

"You tried to destroy me," she said numbly. She couldn't reconcile that moment with the boy from her school. That awful moment. She was so sure she was going to die. That he wanted to kill her.

"Um uh, no that was what you did to me. I never really fought back," yes, she did try to destroy him. For the safety of everyone. So that Amity Park never had to someday face his true nature. She knew it wouldn't survive. 

"You eviscerated my suit." It replayed over and over in her head. In her nightmares.

"Technus was controlling it. You weren't in there, I would have never done that if I thought you were." It was said so casually. As if that wasn't a defining moment in their relationship.

How could he not understand, it was _her suit_. Maybe she wasn't as connected to her old one as this one, but still. Her suit, it was _a part of her_ , now in much more literal sense. He had _destroyed_ a part of her, the part that made her feel strong and useful. He had _destroyed_ her strength and her bravery; he had reduced her to a coward in the face of death, and that feeling never quite left her.

"You coldy and calmly shot an ectoblast straight through my suit, right where my heart would have been." After dismantling her limbs. She slowly put a hand on her beating heart. It was still beating, although it had picked up speed as she remembered that horrible moment.

"I was so _terrified_ of you after that," she whispered. She shouldn't be telling him this. She never wanted him to know how scared she really was.

She was the Red Huntress she didn't get scared. But, in that moment she had felt so much like the frightened little school girl she truly was; someone so far out of her depth. She had sworn to herself that she would never show that kind of _weakness_ again, he would undoubtedly use it against her. But, for some reason she kept talking in a soft shaking voice, "That was when I realized that this isn't some movie or stupid TV show. That what I had gotten myself into was dangerous. That _you_ were dangerous. There it was just lurking right underneath, It was like a switch flipped in you, suddenly all the stupid puns and banter were gone and you were just an inhuman destructive force of unfathomable power,"

His eyes widened. "I never wanted to hurt you.... I did once. I miscalculated, I am not sure if you remember, but I ...had aimed an ecto blast at you. I poured too much power into it, and it ...knocked you out. I could have...ki...k... really hurt you. I was so worried about what I had done. I was so scared that maybe... I had.... That maybe... you wouldn't wake up,"

"And you still want to ask me to _trust_ you? Halfa or not. Fenton or not. You are _dangerous_ "

"I know,"

Silence fell again.

"I've _hated_ you for so long,"

"Yeah,...."

" I don't know what to think anymore," here it was, the pathetically weak reason that she needed to talk to him. "I don't know what anything is anymore. I don't think I know right from wrong anymore. I don't know who you are. Who _I_ am. What you are... _What_ I am."

They seemed to have both forgotten momentarily that they were supposed to be enemies. Hunter and pray. An enemy wouldn't have approached her with the intention of helping. He wouldn't have put his hand on her shoulder and helped her up. A hunter wouldn't have let him. She shouldn't have let him, but she desperately needed a friend right now.

And lie or not, he was here for her.

His touch was cold. Her suit was internally warning her that he was _dangerous_. She certainly needed to be reminded, but for a second she ignored that fact, as he took her hands in his. And she let him.

"You're Valarie Grey. The Red Huntress. The Stubborn Badass." He closed her hands into fists. "You're full of righteous fury, protecting this town, and doing what you think is right. None of that has changed. Did you make some mistakes, sure. But who hasn't?" He gave a small chuckle. "Were some of your views a little off, ...maybe. Should you have been a little less 'shoot first ask questions never', ...maybe. But you are still _you_. At the very least no one can take that from you." He opened her hand again and guided it to her heart. Then let go. There was such a deep personal pain in his voice. "no matter what happens, what anyone says, or what you feel you've become. Keep in mind that you are still _you_. And now you do what we all do when we mess up, when we are wrong, we move on and we try to make up for it," he stepped back from her again. He looked at her shamefully. "Val, I am sorry about what happened to you.” he gave her a serious look over, as if seeing something she couldn't. “... _Everything_ that's happened to you. Can we... maybe start again?"

_Flash_. And now a seemingly normal boy stood before her.

"Hi, my name is Daniel James Fenton _Phantom_ ," on the last name he gave, his eyes flashed a blinding green, breaking the illusion of normalcy, for a second. "But I prefer Danny. What's your name?" He made a big show of introducing himself. His extended hand towards hers.

She took it.

This was different than letting him take her hand. This was her accepting it and taking his. She shook it and played along with his insane denile tactic. When life beat him down, he put on a brave face and made jokes.

_If life is a cruel sick joke, then I might as well laugh._

"Valarie Grey, but my friends call me Val," she started laughing. He had always called her Val. Even as Phantom. Either that or Red. He never used her full name or title. Valarie had thought it was out of mockery; to show her how little he took her seriously. _What if it wasn't?_ She couldn't do this, she couldn't deal with this. Her laughter warped and became deranged, again. "Danny, this is so messed up,"

"Yeah well, welcome to my life... Afterlife. Half-life?" he was now laughing too, in that same broken way. Were the tears that streamed down his face faintly glowing green, or was that just her imagination?

It took them a while to calm back down.

Valarie sat down on the hill overlooking Axion labs.

"Still me, huh?" She looked back down at her hands. "Speaking from experience?"

Danny joined her. He sat down right beside her, and a chill went through her.

"Yeah,..." He triggered his transformation. Now a ghost was next to her again, floating just off the ground rather than sitting, something her suit was all too keen to point out. "You'd be surprised how many identity crisises dying can cause,"

"Dying? Did you... actually ... _die_?" A stupid question to ask a ghost. But, he was only half ghost right? Like his cousin. Did the ghost girl die? Did Vlad? She didn't know, but they weren't here to ask.

Danny Fenton was. So she asked him.

"I don't like to talk about it," he sighed. "Much more fun to think about being a ' _superhero_ '," his voice was bitter. "But, yeah... I think...I did,"

She stayed silent. Now it was his turn to be vulnerable. "I... Got into an _accident_ , in freshman year. My parents' portal... When they first built the thing, it didn't work. Until... I uh, tried to fix it. Got myself straight up _electrocuted_ , for my trouble... It was the first in a long line of horrible mistakes I've made while just trying to help," He pulled his legs towards himself, and they vanished. The ghost held his tail the way a crying child might hug their knees and buried his face. He looked so small. So young. So lost. "I just wanted to fix something," his broken voice echoed.

"It's not your fault," Now it was her who put a hand on his shoulder.

He gave a little laugh, "Never thought _you_ , of all people, would say that to me, Red."

She joined his laughter, although hers had a touch of bitterness. "Yeah,"

"Y'know that dog really wasn't mine. He just wanted his toy and he went after me as a the closest ghost that could help him get it,"

"His toy? That's what my dad lost everything over?!" She asked the sheer ridiculousness frustrating her again. 

"Yeah... I'm so sorry I wasn't able to prevent it. That I wasn't good enough," 

"Danny, I..." She wanted to comfort him, but how could she? She was contradicting herself. Was he her friend? Then she shouldn't hate him so much. Did she hate him? Then she shouldn't want to comfort him. 

"It's okay, I get it. You hate me. Makes sense. I ruined your life," She finally got him to say those words and it was awful. How many times had he insisted it wasn't his fault, given excuse after excuse, and denied the consequences of his actions. Now here he was admitting it, and she wanted nothing more than to reassure him that he wasn't to blame. But he was. Wasn't he?

"No you didn't. You did your best. It wasn't your fault. I'm sorry for blaming you for so long," even she didn't know if she believed those words. 

He smiled, "You're forgiven and...Thanks. Y'know it feels good to just ...talk... like this. Everything has gotten so _crazy_. I never could have imagined that one simple mistake could skew everything so far out of hand," 

"Yeah,... Everything is so _different_... I can hardly recognize myself sometimes. My old self would see me as a complete stranger now,"

He laughed, " yeah, I get that. But I will say that, I think I am _stranger_ ," he flashed his eyes playfully.

"Yeah, you have me there ghostboy,"

"Although, I am almost exactly the same as I was in freshman year," he mused, his tone still light and relaxed.

"Huh?"

"Well," the fun atmosphere died. He was back to looking like a kicked puppy. "I mean I... Well...I haven't really... _Grown_... Since the ...accident,"

She looked at him, _really_ looked at him, it was hard to focus on him when his ghostly glow seemed to distort his image. But this time she kept looking and soon realized that he did look small. Short.  _Young_. He was cute, there was a reason she had a crush on him, and as Phantom many have called him hot. But now this close she saw that he was attractive in a juvenile way. In a way that someone who was still in the beginnings of puberty was, but at 16 he should look... well, no other way to say it... _older_.

"Oh,"

"Yeah,... I don't know if I am aging slower or... just ...not aging. But yeah, there's a reason I am still so scrawny," he laughed again. 

It made sense that a ghost wouldn't age, but what about Danny Fenton. Her classmate didn't just stop aging, surely someone would have noticed. Yes, he was short and by his own words 'scrawny' but still... He wasn't aging. There was something so _wrong_ with that. He wasn't growing. He would be 14 for how long? Forever? Never changing just stagnant, like a snapshot of a time forgotten.

_Oh god, you really are dead aren't you?_

"How much... I mean... Well...You say half ghost...But how much is half?"

"Truthfully, I am not sure," it was a short and clipped answer.

"Mathematically halves are equal,"

"Yeah, well I am failing math,"

" What about your biology?"

"Failing that too," More jokes. More deflection. More denile.

"Danny! Please be serious,"

That shut him up, for a bit. His glowing eyes narrowed, "What exactly are you asking?"

She felt the danger in the air. She remembered his anger. She shouldn't push him too far. _Don't make him drop his human act. Don't make him flip that switch_. Her fear was rising up again. _He will destroy you and demean you. You are a child and he is an inhuman monster with powers beyond your comprehension. Don't provoke him._

But he was also her friend, right?

_Do you really want to test how far that goes?_

But, she needed to know. To understand what he is. What Vlad is. What the ghosts are. What _she_ is.

She sighed, "How human are you? How ghostly are you? Where's the line?"

His face darkened. He turned away from her and closed himself off. "Well, you're as blunt as ever, Red"

He needed to understand her point. She couldn't trust him. She was afraid of him. She didn't know what he is willing to do. What happens when a sweet and kind boy becomes part of a horrible malevolent creature?

_Which nature won out in the end?_

Did it make an impossibility that was a kind ghost or did it warp the humanity into something malevolent?

She remembered him kidnapping the mayor. Going on a crime spree. Ruthlessly taking down enemies. Was that her answer?

And yet he also made jokes, laughed, and saved people. He helped out when he could. He talked to little kids about being a real life superhero. He only ever captured his enemies, never completely destroyed them. 

Was he somehow both? A switch flicking back and forth from compassion and morality to cruelty and depravity. Switch flickering between ghost and human.

"Ghost's are manipulative, they lie, they pull tricks," Perhaps she should have read the room better; picked up on his social cues. She should maybe stop before she provoked him further. She could make her point here and stop. But she didn't, "Ghosts are violent, animalistic, and, feral," A low _inhuman_ growl was slowly getting louder. Still she continued. "They are evil. Obsessive. They feed off human misery and..." She trailed off, finally taking the hint.

He was _glaring_ at her, and those unnatural glowing eyes held fire, neon  _rage_  making it look like he had no pupils. His lips were curled in snarl and his sharper than average eyeteeth were visible.

_Switch flipped._

_Congratulations, here is the part of him that is not Fenton and is in no way your friend._

"And what? Huntress? Gonna accuse us of anything else?" His words were hard to make out through his growling. But she heard the _'us'_

"I didn't mean you," she began backtracking both verbally and literally. No unswitching. No calming him down. No mercy from a _ghost_.

"Oh? Why not? I am a ghost!" _Yes he was. You did it now, Valarie. What happened to being careful?_ She put more distance between them and her suit responded to her fear. The red covered her from head to toe.

"Only by half, right?"

"And thus your oh so tactful question. Well, what if I told you that I am just as much ghost as human?" She shuddered at either the thought or because he was moving closer, she wasn't sure. "What would you do? What are you trying to prove!?" He floated even closer to her. The prey cornering the huntress. "I am a liar as you well know. I can be animalistic," he was certainly snarling like a wild animal. "I have an obsession. So, Red Huntress explain to me what you mean by you weren't talking about me," he looked furious.

He was comprised of barely controlled destructive power. He would systematically dismantle her again and it would be nothing. Here it is the thing that she had been talking to all night, the Phantom had finally came out to play and her friend was not here right now.

The gun materialized in her hand. But she knew that if she raised it she would lose him, for good.

Danny had asked her to start over, he still wanted to be friends with her. It was possible that he was now trying to scare her, to test her.

His eyes held more than fury; they held a challenge. ' _Go ahead and shoot, huntress. Show me what you really think of me.'_

_This is Danny_ , she reminded herself.

_So he claims_ , she unhelpfully responded.

She took off her helmet. She needed to speak to him face to face. "That's why I asked, Danny!" maybe using his name would help to remind them both who he is. _This is Danny_. Indeed, the name seemed to catch him a little off guard, and he no longer looked so murderously angry. "you are asking me to _trust_ you. You go to my _school_ , for heaven's sake!! You just told me that you're...That you think you might... Have _died_! You have an obsession⁈ Do you not realize how unstable that can make you? We both know that you are ridiculously powerful and you yourself admitted that you are _dangerous_! I am sorry, but I need to know. How much does this, this being what you are, affect you?" If that means that she failed his test, well then she already lost him. She just hoped she wouldn't lose more. 

"Yeah, I get it. I hate it, but I get your point." The anger was not gone, he just shoved it back into the bottle. It was still there smoulding under the surface. Waiting for the next time that switch is flipped. "But I am still _me._ I am not overshadowed or anything. I am just _me_. I just... Yeah, OK I have an obsession and some ghostly instincts, but I am no different,"

"I thought we agreed on no more lies, Danny"

"And I thought we agreed that we could start over, but you are being just as closed minded as before! Ghosts aren't inherently evil!" He was still snarling at her. He barely looked or sounded human. She was almost surprised that he hadn't dropped down into a complete predatory crouch.

"We can start over. I have changed, I am asking questions without the gun pointed at your head that should count for something!" It was taking everything she had not to aim her gun at him. "But I cannot ignore this. You want me to just not ask. You don't want me to question your _inhuman_ behavior, I am sorry but that just makes it that much clearer that I have to," He flinched when she said the word _inhuman_.

"Please, Val look there are good ghosts and bad ghosts, just like humans. Ghosts have a couple animal like instincts that are a bit more... Pronounced... then humans have. But humans do have some, just ask Jazz and she can give you a whole dissertation on them. Yeah, ghosts can be obsessive, but so can humans. Hell, my parents obsess over ghost hunting to an unhealthy degree,"

"What about the jewels you stole?! When you kidnapped the mayor? Is that what a good ghost does or were you following some instinct or obsession?" 

"The jewels...Yeah I guess in a way I was following an instinct," said softly and then shook his head and spoke before she could respond to that. "There was this guy, named Freakshow who had this...Staff that controlled ghosts. Like mind control stuff. He was the one that wanted the jewels. I... couldn't do anything to stop it...I don't even remember much of what I did...It was...terrifying," He looked certainly shaken up. Valarie couldn't help but think that that was how humans felt when a ghost overshadows them. But she also could appreciate the terror in the idea that Phantom could be controlled.

After a bit, he continued. "And the mayor? He was overshadowed by a ghost named Walker who wanted to turn the whole town against me. He succeeded," he sighed. "The last thing he said before he grabbed me, and not the other way around by the way, was 'now they will never trust you', can't exactly say he was wrong. You don't trust me,"

"How can I? What about the manipulation? The lies? How do I know that the Danny Fenton I knew wasn't just another trick? How can I even _believe_ you? Let alone ever _trust_ you again?"

"Yeah, I am a liar, we've established that. I've lied to everyone I know. I've lied to protect others. I've lied to protect myself. I am not what I try to convince everyone I am, is that manipulative? Maybe. Does that mean that no one really knows who I am?... Maybe. But I _swear,_ cross my heart and core, to you that though I may lie about some things, I have _never_ lied about this, I just want to help and I promise I am not evil. The things that people accuse me off all are taken out of context. I don't force others to do something against their will, and I don't use tricks to get them to do what I want them to do, I am not trying to trick you. I am just me, just well...A little bit more...Dead?"

"Plasmus does,"

"Yeah, ... Well the last thing I want to be is like that fruitloop,"

"But you _are_ like him, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you are talking about,"

"You're both half ghosts,"

"You know?"

"I know. You and Vlad are both lying about who you really are. You're both dangerous and powerful enough to take what you want, consequences be damned,"

"Does he know you know?! Valarie this is serious! You could be in danger!"

"I can handle myself!" Her gun wirred at her side. Her trigger finger itched.

"Against Vlad? Valarie he won't hesitate to replace a pawn. He sees people as a means to an end; they are only worth something if he can use them to get what he wants. If he knows you know he will come after you!"

"Let him," she growled. "I can pay him back for using me!"

"Valarie you won't win against him!"

"I don't care!"

"Facing Vlad is suicide! You cannot do that!" he grabbed her arms. "I won't _let_ you do that!," His grip was strong, too strong. His face too determined. And suddenly she was afraid of him again, of what he might do.

_What was that you said about forcing someone to do something against their will?_ She must have triggered his obsession, which meant that he was no longer thinking clearly; He was no longer thinking like a _human_.

" _Let_ me?" Her suit sparked and shocked him off of her. "Listen here, Phantom! I don't care if you think you are protecting me or whatever else your stupid obsession is! I don't know who you think you are Mr. Amity Park Hero! But You don't get to _let_ me do anything! And you don't get to _decide_ what _I_ do!"

"That came out wrong," he looked like he was fighting an internal battle.

"Yeah, it did."

" _Please_ Val, you can't go after him. You _won't_ win," He was pleading with her. 

"What do you expect me to do, then?! Keep working for that creep? Pretend that I don't know what he is?!"

"Valarie he could kill you, he could use your father against you, he could destroy everything you care about. That's what he does,"

"Speaking from experience?" It was supposed to be one of his types of jokes, but his face answered her question too seriously for her liking.

"I'll be careful," She said, not really convincing herself let alone him. He made a noise like a wounded animal.

"Please Val, I... Let me... I..."

"Just want to help?" She finished for him. He had told her of his... _Death_. Any ghost hunter worth their ectogun could infer his obsession. He nodded.

"Fine. There's something you can help me with..." She should be worried by how fast his face lit up. How fast he was put at ease, when she said the seemingly magical word. It was like every other thought was wiped clean from his mind, and he was like a dog reacting to the word fetch. Help. Help. Help. He could help. He would do anything to help. It was unnerving how fast he dropped something that he had been pleading with her about like it was life or death. The argument was over, his mind was changed, and he went through an emotional 180. Actually now that she thought about it, how fast his emotions have been changing in general was worrying. 

She sighed, she really did need help, though. "This... Suit...It is well... I think it's a part of me. And I am not talking about a metaphorical the Red Huntress is me way, I mean it is _inside_ me,"

He cringed. "Technus,"

She had heard that name before.

At her look he explained, "the electronic ghost that wanted to use the satellite computer to take over the world. He took control of your suit. And then did something to you to upgrade it. It looked like it hurt,"

She noded, that moment she definitely remembered. "It did. It felt like he was frying my system with me inside,"

He winced in sympathy. "Yeah, shockingly electrocution is not fun. 1 out of 10, would not recommend,"

"Oh god, Danny that was just bad,"

"Would you say it was painful?" He asked with a smirk. 

"Yes,"

"More so than electrocution?" He asked in a fake innocent voice. 

"I am tempted to say yes,"

He laughed. 

"Anyway," she said pushing on. She signaled for him to shut up, and he did. He quietly listened to her, all of his amusement had died. His face became so serious in a matter of seconds. Like a switch flipped.

She continued. "Ever since then, well...I think it bonded to me. It's a literal part of me. It responds to my thoughts, sometimes _before_ I even realize I have them. And...I ... I _feel_ it no matter what, like it's in my bloodstream,"

"I know what you want to ask me," There was such understanding in his eyes.

"Danny, I don't feel... Completely _human_ anymore," This was another time that she wanted him to lie to her. _Please let me be wrong_. _You know what they say, ignorance is bliss_. But they had agreed no more lies, and so he confirmed her horrible thoughts for the second time that night.

"I'm sorry. So sorry Val. This is all my fault,"

"So I'm not? I'm really something else?" As that thought sank in, she found herself on the ground again.

"Your not a halfa. You still have a beating heart, in both forms. You are still  _alive_ ," he sat down beside her.

"But I am not... _human_ ," is this how he felt when he thought about what he was? Like there was a huge divide that _separates_ the rest of the world from him? Did he feel like he had  _lost_ something that he couldn't _understand_ , _explain_ , and most of all couldn't _get back_? Did he _hate_ what had happened to him? _Hate_ those who were responsible? He must be so _lonely_. She really had no right to judge him. He might act more like an animal than a person, but she was starting to wonder how _she_ acted to an outside observer. A _normal_ human. Some of Amity already thought she was purely mechanical, a robot or drone, essentially the next model of an automated ectogun.

_Were they right? Do I act more machine than human?_

"Not completely. You have a slight echo of an ecto-signature and it's not Technus's it really is _yours_. You're...you are kinda like Iron man, y'know when he had the arch reactor as a part of him?"

Neither of them were comic book heroes. She wasn't a superhero she was a freak, and he was dead. That was what was the truth.

She understood why he'd rather lie. The truth _sucked_.

"I feel more like cyborg," She gave him a week smile. She felt like she was going to throw up.

"I didn't peg you as a D.C. fan, Val. Personally I always preferred marvel," he said with a laugh. She could tell the laugh was forced. Before she thought his laughter was fake because he was incapable of real emotions, but now she knew that instead it was fake because if he didn't laugh he would cry.

She felt the same.

So, she laughed with him, "yeah, great power comes great responsibility?"

"That's me your friendly neighborhood Phantom,"

"Explains the dorky spandex,"

"Hey! Blame my parents for that one. Y'know when they made me this jumpsuit I kid you not I told them that 'I wouldn't be caught dead in it'... And... Well, now look at me,"

"And the logo?"

He blushed green again, "Sam,"

"Really? I didn't think she was a superhero fan,"

"Not as much as Tuck or me, but yeah. Although, she could have just been teasing me,"

"Makes sense. You do make it too easy,"

"Hey!"

"I didn't know that you could blush as a ghost," She laughed when that comment made his face glow a deeper green. It was remarkably easy to joke with him and pretend that they were just hanging out after school.

Pretend the earlier altercations hadn't happened.

Two completely _normal_ kids.

_Yeah, right_. He was floating and blushing green. She was covered in a high-tech battle suit and if she concentrated she could see lines of code and data everywhere.

_Normal_. She sighed.

"What now?" She asked after an awkward silence.

"Well, can we maybe... form a truce? It wouldn't be the first time, we worked together. Just one that...doesn't stop? I mean it be much easier projecting Amity with some help,"

"And Vlad?"

"As far as he knows you are his clueless pawn,"

"And you want me to pretend to stay that way?"

"You would be safer,"

"Screw safe! My life is never going to be safe anymore! _Look_ at me!" As she said that her armor sparked again, red electricity making him jump back a little. "Besides, someone should remind Vlad how to play chess, because a _pawn_ can become the freakin' _Queen_! I am already involved with him, so you don't get to tell me it's too dangerous! He has been _using_ me! He tried to get me to commit _murder_! He wanted me to kill an innocent girl! He encouraged and helped me try to kill _you_! I can't just stop, I am in too deep already!"

"I know. I know. Your right, but please Val, please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt,"

"I am not your damsel in distress, Danny!"

"I know that!... but you can still... Val, you are _alive_ , whatever else has happened to you. Whatever else you may be now. Whatever else you may have lost. _You still have that!_ You are _alive_! And that means that you can... _die_ , and... I know that you said I ruined your life. I know that Vlad and Technus have irreversibly changed you, but... Val, you have so much more to lose," That was all the more ominous coming from a _ghost_.

"I'll be careful," say it again and maybe this time someone will believe her. "But I am not just going to sit on the sidelines!"

"Yeah,... I know. You are not one to back down from a fight,"

"Right back at you. ....Maybe together we can finally be rid of him,"

"What like... _kill_... Him?"

"Would that even work? Can halfas die? How would you go about killing something like that?" He looked super uncomfortable with the topic.

"Even if you could... Would you really do that, Val? Kill someone?"

"Take part in destroying a human?" She murmured recalling what he had said to her. "Vlad doesn't act like a _human_ " she snarled. "He is every bit as _evil_ as a full-ghost! Getting rid of such a creature would be no different," She was suddenly reminded of who she was talking to like a slap in the face. "That has nothing to do with you," she hastily and pathetically added as an after thought.

He gave her a tired hurt smile. "I am the exception to the rule, huh?" He sighed. "What is it going to take for you to see that not all ghosts are bad. I am not good because I am part human. Vlad is not bad because he is part ghost. It's so much more _complicated_ than that,"

"Yeah... I always saw it as such a simple thing. I thought I was in the right. I had the moral highground. Now everything is so... _difficult_ ," She sat down and hugged her knees and looked away from him in shame.

"I get it,"

"What? You? Mr. I'm a good ghost? #1 advocate of give ghosts a chance?"

"No, I think that's Sam,"

"Wouldn't surprise me. She's little miss I will fight for any cause,"

"Anyway, yes I get it. You're forgetting how I was raised. I am a _Fenton_ , family of ghost hunters for generations upon generations. My parents wrote the book on modern ectobiology. Did you know that some of my ansestors are mostly responsible for the friggen  _Salem Witch Trials_? Yeah, paranoia and _hatred_ of the supernatural or the _nonhuman_ , it's in my blood. Normal kids come to their parents and tell them there's a monster under the bed, and the parents tell them 'no monsters aren't real and you don't need to worry about them'. Me? I got a lecture about how ghosts are not only real, but 'they are melavolent creatures who exist just to feed off human misery, and if you do see one let us know so we can dissect it! Sleep tight!' You have no idea how scared I was of ghosts when I was younger," he gave a shaky laugh. "Hell, my family would have ' _move on lessons_ ' where we would come to terms with the reality of death so that hopefully when we die we could accept it and not leave behind an 'echo of our postmortem consciousness that would be fueled by ectoplasm and evil'. Another lesson I failed," He said that too nonchalantly. It wasn't funny. And he didn't even give that painfully false laugh that usually accompanied his awful self deprecating jokes. It was as if he had accepted it.

That was somehow so much _worse_.

He put his head in his hands and took a moment to compose himself before continuing. "Then the whole thing... with the portal happened. And surprise! Ghosts _are_ real! My parents _aren't_ crazy! No, worse than that, they are _right_!" He was speaking faster now. He spoke as if he was on the verge of a panic attack, "And I...I... Freaking  _died!_ and became the _monster_ from my childhood nightmares!... Now I had a whole new fear, _myself_. What I might become. After all ghosts are 'horrible vile _parasites_ that _suck the life_ out of people'" His tone was fluctuating jumping from bitterness to anger to contempt to shame to more emotions Valarie could barely even name at the speed of a whirlwind. " We 'are _incapable_ of _real_ emotions and are only _pretending_ for the sake of _manipulating_ others'. Just ' _Imitations_ of the life they lost' ' _Selfishly_ lashing out at those who are still _alive_ ' ' _animals_ without higher brain functions who are _slaves_ to their _obsession_ '! ' _unfeeling_ _chaotic_ _feral_ -"

"Danny! _Stop_! please!" She couldn't bear to hear him say that, any of those things. She knew he was just quoting his parents, some of which from scientific journals that she had read. Just saying things that they thought. Things she had believed. Things that she had told him before. But it sounded so ... _wrong_ coming from him.

"Got a bit carried away," he said trying to make light of what just happened. _Ignore Ignore Ignore. Just pretend that it didn't just happen_. "So yeah, I know what they say about ghosts. I have heard it all before, to the point where I had it _memorized_ for most of my life. Why do you think the first thing I tried to do was stop the other ghosts? Call it my _obsession_ or my _hero-complex_ or my _Fenton bloodline_ or whatever. But at the beginning I was just like you. _Ghosts equal bad. Humans equal good_. And me?... a freak stuck in the middle. Fighting off every single freaky instinct that had been _burned_ into me. Rejecting a part of who I was. Never even realizing the damage I was doing to myself. Jazz finally got me to work through some of it, but yeah as you can probably tell I am still majorly _screwed_ in the head,” that got one of his signature laughs. “It wasn't easy but it was uncomplicated in the beginning. Toss whoever is terrorising the town back in the Zone and try to ignore my own self-hatred and feelings of hypocrisy. Then I started to get to know some of the ghosts. I started to _understand_ them; I began to understand _myself_. Why they come here, what they do when they aren't trying to take over the world, what it means to be a ghost. And yes, I realized that it is so much more _complicated_ than anyone ever thought. That sometimes there are ghosts with non-destructive obsessions who just hang out in the human realm. What do you do when it's a human harassing a ghost? With the ghosts who are living peacefully? With the ones who just wanted to see their families again? With the ones who think that it is just a game? The ones who can fulfill their obsession and pass on? The ones forced to be a lab rat for the GIW or my parents? It's so so complicated. But morality always is. People aren't 100% good or bad, so why should it be any different after we die?"

“Is it wrong that I wish it was simply good vs. evil?"

"Maybe a little. But I don't blame you, just please don't let Desiree hear you say that," She gave a little laugh.

"No," she agreed. She sighed, "Life and death are complicated, huh?"

"Who'da thought, right?" That got her to laugh. 

"Well, in life we humans get through the crazy complicated world with a little help from our friends. Truce?"

He gave her a glowing smile, "Truce! And thank you Val,"

"For what?" She certainly didn't deserve to be thanked.

"For giving us ghosts a chance," But she hasn't, not really.

"I... Danny... I am... I am sorry. For _hunting_ you. For trying to... _Murder_ you. I... _Want_ to trust you," but she truthfully didn't know if she could.

"I know. It's a start. I forgive you. And I am sorry for ruining your life, for lying to you, for getting you mixed up in this crazy complicated world. I understand if you _can't_ trust me completely. I am _still_ dangerous,"

"So am I! I have _weapons_ inside me. I am a walking _battle drone_! But we are not the only ones who can be dangerous. So is any old human with a firearm or a knife. That shouldn't matter!"

"But you and I both know that it does," he gave her a sad smile. "It's okay Val, I know that you are trying," He offered a hand to help her up. She didn't need it, but she took it anyway. "Now, I know I am going to fail that bio test tomorrow, but I should at least pretend to review before getting my customary two hours of sleep tonight," he gave a wink and a laugh. "Goodnight Val,"

"Yeah... It's been quite a night,"

"So, Red Huntress have we ' _finished this_ '?"

"In your dreams, Phantom. We are not done, yet" and then before she could talk herself out of it with any of the millions of reasons that she shouldn't, she _kissed_ him.

It was cold. He was cold. His lips were cold. She tried not to think about how she was kind of kissing a corpse. The air was sharp and cold. Like they were kissing in the snow. _Wait no, it was actually snowing a bit, was he doing that?_ He was blushing bright green, glowing for all the world to see. Oh, her suit was glowing brighter too. _That's new_. She was whirring like an overheating computer. Yeah, she might actually be overheating, her brain was certainly melting, but then his ghostly aura began cooling her down. He was humming too, his core vibrating in sync with her. Her hair was frizzing up and his was standing on end like he had just rubbed a balloon on his head. Ectoenergy was coursing through both of them. Her red heated electricity meeting his green glow and frosty cold.

It was nothing short of _supernatural_.

She briefly wondered if it would have been the same if she had kissed him, back before she knew, as Fenton.

He was speechless, gasping for air like he forgot that he doesn't have to breathe in ghost form.

" _Now,_  we're good. See you next time there's an invasion, _Team mate_ ," She responded with her own flirty wink

"Right," he said in a breathless squeak. He cleared his throat,"I've heard of kisses being electric but  ...that was ridiculous...I think...I could get used to...that kind of ...electrocution,"

"Danny! Oh my god!" 

"That was... Just _wow_..."

"You weren't too bad a kisser, yourself ghostboy," She rolled her eyes. "See you tomorrow at school,"

With that and the multitude of confused emotions, that if anything become more entangled tonight, she left.

This wasn't over. She had received more answers then she expected but was just as lost. But at least they agreed to try to sort out the absolute mess that was their relationship.

_Maybe they could fix it._

_God, I hope so._

Because she thinks that with that kiss she has sealed her fate, and she is head over heals in love with him. With Phantom. Her enemy. Danny Fenton. Her friend. A _ghost_. A _dead_ boy who is stuck at 14. A freak of nature that belongs to neither the living or the dead. She didn't know if that made her crazy, stupid, creepy, necrophilic, or whatever.

_Probably all of the above_.

She just knew that she was so screwed. Because she was in love with him, even after everything that had happened. She had maybe thought that knowing he was Phantom would have snapped her out of her crush. But no, if anything it had somehow for some godforsaken reason _strengthened_ it. What was _wrong_ with her? She was still in love. She wasn't unfamiliar with the idea of being _stupid_ with love.

But _wow_ , she thinks she took the cake.

The part of her that had been obsessed with all the girly things as an A Lister briefly considers how tragically Shakespearean the idea of a ghost hunter and a ghost falling for one another is, but mainly she was just thinking about how majorly _screwed_ she was.

Sled ride home. Back in her room she caught sight of a her hunting board full of newspaper clippings and photos of Phantom.

The overheating feeling is back.

Her face is burning red.

Her suit is glowing red.

Her heart is beating of the charts, and she knows this because her suit monitors her vitals. 

_I am so so_ _majorly screwed._


	2. Danny's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny had found a note left in his locker by the Red huntress and knew he owed Valarie an explanation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically the same exact thing, but from Danny's pov. If that sounds interesting, go ahead and read it. If you are fine with just Val's side it's not too different. The dialogue is exactly the same. But the internal monologue is not. And maybe needs a warning because wow does Danny have problems with self hatred. Constructive criticism is welcome and desired. How else will I improve.

You _owe_ me. You owe me an explanation. You owe me the _truth_. Meet me where this mess all started tomorrow night at 9pm. I would say come unarmed, but we both know that that's not an option for either of us. Let's _finish_ this.

Red.  
___________________

  
Danny Fenton had found that note in his locker yesterday. It had freaked him out. He had read it silently and then for good measure slammed his hand into his locker. Which of course had caused both Sam and Tucker to notice. And then they read the note too. The rest of the day was spent speculating and arguing whether or not Danny should go.

Now the day had come.

He had to go.

His friends had told him it was stupid and dangerous, but he had to go. 

He couldn't leave Valarie all alone in her confusion and desperation.

Besides he _did_ owe her. He owed her so much because of what he did to her.

He cared about her.

He knew her, this must be driving her absolutely mad.

He couldn't just leave her alone and in the dark.

He owed her the _truth_. So he made up his mind to go.

Of course, after he made that decision he had a run in with a couple of ghosts making him late.

His watch was cracked, but he knew he was late. He sighed and sped of towards Axion labs, where this _mess_ all started.

Invisibly, and from a range that her suit wouldn't pick up, he checked to see if Valarie was there.

She was.

She looked so alone. She looked so tired. She didn't even have her entire suit on. She looked so defeated.

His core ached at the thought that he had done that to her.

He sighed and landed a while away. She put the note in Fenton's locker, he should show up as Fenton. So he shifted at one edge of the forest and then started walking to where he could clearly see her.

She whirrled around with aided inhuman speed, her suit covering her as she did. She was preparing for a fight.

_Duh, really what did you expect?_

Danny came into the clearing and met with the end of her blaster.

Oh, god she was going to shoot him. It didn't even matter that he was Fenton right now.

She hated him, both of him.

There was an awkward silence. Where he gave her what she deserved, a chance to completely destroy him.

But she didn't.

She stood still.

Gun raised. But it was for show.

 

He figured he better do something. She wants him to do something.

"I uh...Um uh... Sorry I'm late." He said. He didn't even know what time it was. But it looked like she had been here a while. "I... Um got your note, I mean... Obviously....I wouldn't be here in the middle night if I didn't...heh," He rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke. He was so beyond nervous. Why was she just standing there letting him ramble like an idiot? He should have been shot by now. Was it because he was Fenton? But she still is pointing the gun at him. The silence is killing him. So he did what he always did when he was too nervous for his own good, he filled the silence. "So...Uh anyway... wh... I mean why... Why did... " Fenton wasn't supposed to know this was Valarie he reminded himself before he did something beyond stupid like said her name. "the uh... Red Huntress leave a note in... _my_ locker?," his voice shook.

Oh he _knew_ why. There's only one reason why.

She _knew_.

Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.

Oh ancients. She knew.

His heart was beating so fast, that he may have even gotten it back up to what was considered normal. His heart is only 'normal' when he is actually dying of stress.  _Heh, I can always count on my freaky heart to pass a lie detector._

Her helmet obscured her face, but he knew she was glaring at him. He could feel the anger radiating off of her in strong waves. He also felt that she had more emotions going through her head but like a chanel she kept switching back to anger. "Do you really expect me to believe that you _don't_ know? That you just decided to come when you had _no_ context. No clue who wrote the note or what it meant,"

"Wouldn't be the dumbest thing I've ever done," he muttered chuckling despite himself.

"No, I suppose it wouldn't," she spat with vitriolic hatred. He flinched. Yeah he was an idiot. She was going to really full kill him. "don't insult my intelligence! I know you know what this is about! At the very least you wouldn't know to be here, here here Axion labs; where it all started. Where _you_ ruined my life!"

Yeah. OK. Yup. She. _Knew_. Oh ancients. This was bad. Yeah. He was never going to fool her into thinking Fenton was normal. He knew that from the moment he had read her note, but some part of him was still grasping for an excuse.

His back against the wall. _Lie! Lie! Lie!_

"No more lies! I want. The. _Truth_ ," the hand that held the gun was shaking ever so slightly. She was falling apart. She was driving herself mad. And he had the audacity to _lie_ to her? When she was _this_ broken? When she needed help. _Help_. His chest tightened. He couldn't lie to her anymore. She was right. She deserved the truth.

"Right, I know. I know. You are right. I owe you the truth," he admitted defeat. Ancients he was playing with fire. She was going to blast him the minute he did anything. And he deserved it. His core throbbed. "Promise you won't shoot me?" He attempted a smile, but he probably looked like he was going to be sick. He certainly felt like it.

She made no move to lower her weapon and gave him no promises.

"...Right of course not, ...OK then," _Th_ _is is it, full death by angry vengeful ex-girlfriend, ...all things considered that's pretty normal for you._ Oh ancients where to start. "You... You _know_. I mean of course you figured it out. You always were smart. You already know everything, the truth, who I am . ...or at least you _suspect_ something is up and that's why you sent me that note. And now you... want to... what? Finish this... Finish _me_?...But if that's the case why not just blast me now... Not that I want you to, of course... Just it doesn't fit your usual method...I mean I don't think I have ever known you to hesitate... Unless..." He came as Fenton not Phantom. Maybe she was just waiting for him to change so she didn't have to shoot her friend. No, that didn't seem to work. Maybe she didn't know for sure. If there was a chance she thought she was wrong, she didn't want to hurt Fenton. "Oh... Oh... you're still unsure, aren't you... You want proof... And you want it from me... You want to hear it from me,...You're just waiting for me to confirm your suspicions aren't you?"

Which meant that he might still be able to convince her that Fenton and Phantom were not the same person.

"Well? Do you confirm them?"

_Lie. Lie. Lie. Tell her something. Anything. You're so stupid. stupid. Why didn't you come up with anything that you could tell her._

No. He couldn't do that to her. She was too broken. Too hurt.

He did that.

So he needed to fix it. _The truth will set you free, no the truth will get me actually really killed for good_.

She was going to _end_ him.

But he owed her. He nodded. Then wordlessly he adopted the position of surrender. And changed.

Phantom stood in front of her. His eyes clenched dreading her next move. _Well, I removed the doubt in her mind. I removed the face of the friend she doesn't want to hurt. So here goes nothing. What even happened when a halfa died? Well, what better time to find out. Goodbye cruel world._

"I _knew_ it," She whispered. Her voice was so broken. And with those three words it was like a dam burst. All the emotions she had been struggling to keep at bay came rushing out and slammed into him at full force. He sometimes hated that he could feel other's emotions. Sure it helped him a couple of times, but mainly it just made him feel _guilty_.

"I'm so sorry, Val"

_Now you know. Now you know what I did to you. I'm sorry._

_Just shoot me already_ , he begged, because feeling her broken shards of emotions was much more _painful_ then a blast to his chest would be.

But she didn't.

It made him feel even _worse_.

She collapsed to her knees. Her suit vanished and the girl he broke replaced the strong ghost hunter.

She _wasn't_ going to shoot him. She was too shattered to even take her anger out on him.

Oh, ancients that was bad.

Her emotions battered against his core.

All her pain, anger, confusion, despair, heartbreak, and feelings of betrayal.

_You did that. You caused those tears in her eyes. Just as you dragged her into this crazy world and caused the scars on her body. You caused her heart to break. Now feel her pain._

"I _wanted_ to be wrong." She whispered in a shell shocked voice. " _Why_ did it... Have to be... Why.. _you_ ," he flinched.

She's right. He was horrible to her.

He hung his head in shame. He had done so much to her. How could he ever make it up to her. "Val, I..." What could he say.

She cut him off before he trailed off anyway. Her anger momentarily back to the forefront of her emotions. " _Don't_! Don't call me that! Don't act like we are friends! And Don't. You. Dare. Pity. Me. You... You... You _ghost_!"

_You're not her friend. You're her enemy. You're a ghost. Can't you see? Ghosts only cause harm. You only cause harm. Look at what you did._

"I knew that the A-listers weren't really my _friends_. Of course, I did I am not stupid or naïve. They stuck around because of my dad's connections and paycheck! When they threw me out like last season's fashion trends, I wasn't surprised. Angry, yes. Betrayed, yes. But surprised, no. And don't even get me started on the benefactor Vlad Masters. It's the game of the rich and snobby, one I have known all my life. None of them actually cared about _me_ , I knew that. Yeah, of course it didn't stop me from being involved with them, but deep down I knew how _fake_ they were. But _you_..." Her voice broke. Silence over took them again.

She had such hatred in her voice. _Good_. He _deserved_ it. Ancients knows he hates himself.

She had regained her voice and anger now. "I thought you might actually care! That you were a genuine friend. Someone who I could _trust_!" She was so alone. He did that. Made her feel that. She was so destroyed. "I never thought that you would use me too. I never pegged you as one with ulterior motives,"

"Val..." What could he say to dispute her claims? "I would never..." _You would never what? Hurt her, come on you know that's a lie. You did hurt her. Look here she is hurt. Because of you._ " I _am_ your friend. I _never_ meant to hurt you," _but you did, didn't you?_

"You expect me to believe that?" She gave a bitter laugh. "You _knew_! _You knew who I was_ , you even outed me to my dad! You knew and still tried to get close to me. Hell, you _dated_ me. What the heck is _wrong_ with you! _Why_ would you do that! Was it fun for you? Knowing that I was falling hopelessly in love with my _enemy_?!"

She was in _love_ with him? Really? He knew she had said she might give up ghost hunting for him, but...

He knew how much it hurt him when she broke it off. Broke it off in a horribly ironic reason to keep him safe from ghosts.

"Did you do it for some sick _amusement_? To get petty _revenge_? A ploy, so that when you finally had me completely wrapped around your finger, you could strike? Did you want information from me?"

_What? No. Of course not._

"Was it out of guilt and pity that you became my friend?! Was ruining my life once, not fricken enough for you?!?!"

How could she think that? He would never do that.

"Val... I... Do you.... Do you honestly think I would do any of that? That I am that kind of person?" That _hurt_. Far more than her gun. Did she really think _so little_ of him. Of the times they shared? Of their friendship?

" _Honestly??!!_ " A twisted laugh exploded out of her "Interesting choice of words there! As if you have ever been _honest_!"

_Ow_ OK. That hurt much worse. 

"Do you even know the meaning of that word? Because I do and I _honestly_ ," she cruelly sank that word deep into his core. "don't know what you are capable of! I _honestly_ " She was torturing him. "don't know what kind of person you are! _Honestly?!?_ " He wished she just shot him and ended him and gotten it over with. This horrible _mutilating_ of his core, was almost more than he could bear. "I don't know you! How could I? When everything you said and did was a lie!"

"Yes, OK! I _lied_ to you! Yes, I kept this from you." Do you even know what honest means? "Yeah, maybe I felt a little bit guilty about what had happened and I wanted to make up for it. It was a _mistake_ , Val. I messed up with your dad's company and I am sorry. But. I. Didn't. Do. It. On. _Purpose_!" _Who are you trying to convince her or yourself, Dannyboy? You know how cruel you can be. I'm inevitable.You know how much you can hurt someone_.

_Shut up!_ , he angrily told himself.

"I am so _sick_ and _tired_ of you freaking _blaming_ me for _everything_!" It's not his fault dammit!

_I know I screwed up. Majorly. But why does no one ever give me even the chance to make up for it._

_Well, who would? You're a ghost. A destructive malevolent force. Who wants to give a chance to a monster?_

_Please Val, listen to me just this once_.

".... But that brief time that we dated? I was so happy, Val. We were so _happy_. Are you going to tell me that it meant nothing? I dated you, because I wanted to. Not because of any nefarious plot, but because I thought you were pretty cool. I still think you are really cool. You are passionate, stubborn, strong, and... beautiful," he felt the coolness of ectoplasm in his face; he knew he was blushing green "Was it all kinds of messed up that you wanted me dead!? Yes! But hey my life is all kinds of messed up anyway! Hell, my own parents want to tear me apart molecule by molecule! I think I can handle a girlfriend who tries to waste me every now and then." He laughed.

Because hey laughing didn't hurt so much. Because it was ironic and stupid and something he could laugh at. So damn it he is going to _laugh_ about it. "The point is, you _do_ know me. I am the same Danny Fenton you knew." _Please Val, you know me._ "The way I felt about you, what we had, was real. Please _believe_ me, I would never hurt you,"

_Too late._ _Yo_ _u already did._

"You tried to destroy me," she said numbly.

He wasn't expecting that. He knew he had hurt her, yes. Broken her heart, yes. Betrayed her, yes. Shot at her and probably gave her a couple of scars, yes. But destroyed? No. Never in fact that was more her goal. "Um uh, no that was what you did to me. I never really fought back,"

_Yeah, you had to hold back every time, because you could really destroy her. If you wanted to, it wouldn't be hard. It would be all too easy, actually_.

_I'm inevitable._

_No_.

"You eviscerated my suit."

"Technus was controlling it. You weren't in there, I would have never done that if I thought you were." Did she think he was aiming for _her_? Oh, ancients no wonder she hates him.

"You coldy and calmly shot an ectoblast straight through my suit, right where my heart would have been." She placed a hand on her heart now.

Yeah, he remembered. He had treated it like target practice, cuz that's what it was. No one could get hurt so he had a little _fun_. He had laughed while doing so too, hadn't he?

"I was so _terrified_ of you after that," she whispered.

Oh. _Oh_.

"That was when I realized that this isn't some movie or stupid TV show. That what I had gotten myself into was dangerous. That _you_ were dangerous. There it was just lurking right underneath, It was like a switch flipped in you, suddenly all the stupid puns and banter were gone and you were just an inhuman destructive force of unfathomable power,"

_Yup that's you to a T isn't it? So ridiculously powerful and able to destroy so much_. He suddenly saw a different Valarie in front of him. One he had destroyed even more of her life.

_I'm inevitable._

A different Amity Park that he had destroyed.

She _wasn't_ wrong. And that's why it _hurt_ so much.

"I never wanted to hurt you...." But you did. " I did once." _Oh please, you've hurt her way more times than once._ "I miscalculated, I am not sure if you remember, but I..." _I made a mistake that almost destroyed you. Another stupid mistake, that you almost paid for_ "...had aimed an ecto blast at you. I poured too much power into it, and it ...knocked you out. I could have...ki...k" _Say it you coward, you could have killed her_. "...really hurt you. I was so worried about what I had done. I was so scared that maybe... I had...." _Killed you. You are right to be terrified of me._ But he couldn't tell her that. "That maybe... you wouldn't wake up,"

"And you still want to ask me to _trust_ you? Halfa or not. Fenton or not. You are _dangerous_ "

_I'm inevitable._

"I know,"

Silence fell again.

"I've _hated_ you for so long,"

_Inevitable._

_And well you should._

"Yeah,...."

"I don't know what to think anymore, I don't know what anything is anymore. I don't think I know right from wrong anymore. I don't know who you are. Who _I_ am. What you are... _What_ I am," he knew she was tearing herself apart.

She was going mad. She was pleading for him to make the world _make sense_ again.

That much was clear from when he first read her note.

Tucker had said it read like Valarie was really angry and wanted to blast him. Which she was. And she did.

Sam had said it was a threat and a trap. Which it kind of was.

But when Danny had read it, he saw a  _plea_ to just make all of her pain and confusion go away.

_You owe me an explanation. Why are things the way they are?_

_You own me the truth. Who are you?_

_I would say come unarmed but we both know thats not an option for either of us. I want to stop the fighting and I know you want to stop the fighting, but we can't. Because of what we are._

_Let's finish this. Because I am so tired, Phantom and I know you are too._

He _couldn't_ leave her like this. He had to help her. He wanted to help her. He moved to put his hand on her shoulder and helped her up. And she let him. He was so surprised she let him near her, touch her, help her.

She looked so lost. So alone. She needed a friend. And he may be a monster, he may have hurt her so much, and ruined her life. He was an awful friend. But right now, she was letting him be there for her.

He took her hands into his. And still she let him.

"You're Valarie Grey." He told her. "The Red Huntress. The Stubborn Badass." He closed her hands into fists. "You're full of righteous fury, protecting this town, and doing what you think is right. None of that has changed. Did you make some mistakes, sure. But who hasn't?" He chuckled. "Were some of your views a little off, ...maybe. Should you have been a little less 'shoot first ask questions never', ...maybe. But you are still _you_. At the very least no one can take that from you." He opened her hand again and guided it to her heart. _Feel that Val? You're still you. Still alive. Remind yourself if that every now and then_. He let go of her hands. She left them where he placed them. "no matter what happens, what anyone says, or what you feel you've become. Keep in mind that you are still _you_."

She looked so surprised by his words. Like she might start crying again. But he also could feel a kind of relief flow through her. She needed to hear this. Ancients, know he needs to tell it to _himself_ every other day. "And now you do what we all do when we mess up, when we are wrong, we move on and we try to make up for it," He stepped back from her, overcome by his own shame again. "Val, I am sorry about what happened to you.” he looked at her.

The red rimmed _tired_ eyes, from too many nights spent hunting. The frizzled hair, from all the _stress_. The _scars_ visible marking her body as a ghost hunter. The feeling of her clearer than any full human should be to his ghostly senses. The almost imperceptible hum he felt when near her heart. Oh, Ancients, she _looked_ and _felt_ like... _him_. Not exactly the same, but enough to make him feel slightly sick. He had turned her into something like him. A part of him hopes she _never_ fully forgives him. “... _Everything_ that's happened to you. Can we... maybe start again?"

He triggered his transformation, and suddenly it was Danny Fenton standing in front of Valarie Grey.

"Hi, my name is Daniel James Fenton _Phantom_ ," on the last name he let his eyes flash a blinding green. "But I prefer Danny. What's your name?" He made a big show of introducing himself. His extended hand towards hers.

She surprised him again.

She took it.

"Valarie Grey, but my friends call me Val," she started laughing. But the laughter was short lived until it became warped and deranged. He knew that laughter well. That was the laughter that came when you are trying to tell yourself that this is funny. That this cruel joke is actually funny. S _ure I can laugh and deal with things like a normal functioning human being with an appropriate emotional response_. And then you think about what you just said and you can't help but _laugh_ , at yourself for thinking you could ever  _deal_ with this. "Danny this is so messed up," she said although her words were smothered by that sick laughter.

"Yeah well, welcome to my life..." I'm sorry I ever got you mixed up in this. _My life is hell. Sorry for dragging you down here_. "Afterlife. Half-life?" See this is a _joke_. _Funny_ joke. _Which means that I laugh_. _This joke means I can accept reality and laugh in the face of death. I can kid myself over and over._ Just kidding. Just joking. Oh, ancients he was a mess. And now thanks to him, so was she.

It took them a while to calm back down.

Valarie sat down on the hill overlooking Axion labs.  
"Still me, huh?" He watched her study her own hands. "Speaking from experience?"

Danny joined her. He sat down right beside her, and saw her shiver a bit. "Yeah,..." He triggered his transformation. Phantom was now beside Valarie. "You'd be surprised how many identity crisises dying can cause,"

"Dying? Did you... actually ... _die?_ "

_Yup. I was zapped like a bug. It hurt. End of story. End of life_.

He sighed, he shouldn't have brought up the ' _d_  ' word. No one likes being reminded that ghosts are actually _dead_. Least of all the ghosts. Especially not _him_. He could get away with calling them ghost powers to Sam and Tucker because they experienced and repressed that fateful day too. They laughed along with his terrible dead jokes, because they didn't want to deal with the reality that they saw their best friend _die_. He couldn't exactly do that with Valarie. She knew half ghosts exist. So he might be able to just talk about how he became half ghost and not mention that it technically involved dying. _But please they are ghost powers, so of course I had to die to get them. I am a ghost of course I am dead._

Besides, he was doing this new thing where he actually told the _truth_ for a change, so there's only one answer. "I don't like to talk about it," understatement. Major understatement. _Hey let's talk about the most traumatic thing in your life, did it hurt?_

_No freaking duh!_  

He sighed. "Much more fun to think about being a ' _superhero_ '," his voice was bitter. "But, yeah..." _Just spit it out. Hi, I am dead_. "I think..." _Right, I think. Not sure. But I think that getting hit with thousands of volts of electricity might kill someone_. "I did,"

She was silent. Oh, ancients she's waiting for the whole story, isn't she? Well truth time. Damn the truth _sucks_. "I... Got into an _accident_ , in freshman year. My parents' portal... When they first built the thing, it didn't work. Until..." Focus on basic facts. _My death the abridged version_. Besides, she doesn't want to hear about how it hurt like nothing he had ever experienced before or since. She didn't want to hear about how his heart _exploded_. The electric current running up his body. His brain _short circuiting_. _Yeah, no don't think about any of that_. "I uh, tried to fix it. Got myself straight up _electrocuted_ , for my trouble... It was the first in a long line of horrible mistakes I've made while just trying to help," He pulled his knees to his chest and they vanished into his tail. "I just wanted to fix something," but he can't.

He can't fix anything. He can't help anyone. He just makes things worse. He made her life worse. He made everyone's lives worse by turning on that stupid portal. _Great job hero, now the city is overrun by ghosts and it's all your fault._

He felt a hand on his shoulder, Valarie. "It's not your fault,"

He couldn't help the shaky laugh, "Never thought _you,_ of all people, would say that to me, Red."

She joined his laughter, although hers had a touch of bitterness. "Yeah,"

Well, she is finally willing to listen to him so he should probably say what he has tried to tell her from day one. "Y'know that dog really wasn't mine. He just wanted his toy and he went after me as a the closest ghost that could help him get it,"

"His toy? That's what my dad lost everything over?!" Oh, great she was angry again. _Nice going, hero._

_"_ Yeah... I'm so sorry I wasn't able to prevent it. That I wasn't good enough," He's never good enough.

"Danny, I..." He didn't know what she was going to say. He was truthfully afraid of what she might say.

So he broke the silence before she got up the courage to say it. "It's okay, I get it. You hate me. Makes sense. I ruined your life," _Y_ _ou should hate me_.

"No you didn't. You did your best. It wasn't your fault. I'm sorry for blaming you for so long," he looked at her, shocked. Did she finally believe him? Really? Did she really forgive him? Did she really think that it was _her_ who needed to apologize _to him_? Did she know how much of a _burden_ on his core she had just released? How big a deal this was? He didn't think so based on her tone.

He smiled, "You're forgiven and...Thanks. Y'know it feels good to just ...talk... like this. Everything has gotten so crazy. I never could have imagined that one simple mistake could skew everything so far out of hand,"

"Yeah,... Everything is so _different_... I can hardly recognize myself sometimes." She says, she's examining her hands again. Oh he knows all about that. There are still times when he has to remind himself that the face in the mirror is _his_. On both sides. Times when he is caught of guard by white hair and green eyes. But truthfully that's never quite so bad as the times when he looks at his _human_ self and feels like it's not him. "My old self would see me as a complete _stranger_ now," he could understand why she felt that way, he remembers the shallow A Lister girl from the beginning of freshman year. He can barely see any of that girl in Valarie now.

He laughed, "Yeah, I get that. But I will say that, I think I am _stranger_ ," he flashed his eyes playfully.

She laughed, he was glad he could still get her to laugh. "Yeah, you have me there ghostboy,"

"Although, I am almost exactly the same as I was in freshman year," he mused, his tone still light and relaxed.

"Huh?"

Oh great, now he had to explain _this_. "Well," He hasn't even told Sam and Tucker, although they probably know. Everyone else just kinda passes it off as something else, but to those who know it's pretty noticeable and down right freaky. "I mean I... Well," He knew he couldn't hide what he is forever, but still. And now she wanted answers again. And he is supposed to be telling the truth. Oh fricken fantastic. Here we go. "...I haven't really... _Grown_... Since the ...accident,"

He didn't like the way she was looking at him. Inspecting him. Like a bug under a magnifying glass. "Oh"

"Yeah,... I don't know if I am aging slower or... just ...not aging. But yeah, there's a reason I am still so scrawny," he gave a week laugh. He just wanted to rewind back to when they were laughing and acting like friends again. To before he opened his big stupid mouth and said something _inhuman_. Ancients, why he was so _bad_ at acting like a regular human being?  _Duh, it's cuz you're not human._

"How much... I mean... Well...You say half ghost...But how much is half?" Well so much for acting human.

"Truthfully, I am not sure," _T_ _here I gave you the truthful answer, will you please drop it now?_

"Mathematically halves are equal,"

"Yeah, well I am failing math,"

" What about your biology?"

"Failing that too," laugh. Make jokes. _Distract both yourself and her from thinking about that._

"Danny! Please be serious,"

_No, I don't want to be_. Seriousness sucks.  
He doesn't want to look at what he is in a serious manner. _Ever_. No. He is fine with _pretending_ to be as human as he can manage to act, thank you very much.

He glared at her, "What exactly are you asking?"

She sighed, "How human are you? How ghostly are you? Where's the line?"

_Yeah, that's a whole can of nope. Half ghost superhero. Let's not look into it any further than that._

He turned away from her. He. Did. _Not_. Want. To. Talk. About. This. _Ever_. _No_. "Well, you're as blunt as ever, Red"

She continued on. He just wanted her to shut up. "Ghost's are manipulative, they lie, they pull tricks," Yeah he heard this all before. Doesn't mean he likes it. _But you're manipulative, too aren't you Dannyboy? You lie. You play pretend. You pull tricks. And cause trouble._ "Ghosts are violent, animalistic, and, feral," _Just shut up!_ His anger was building at both her and his stupid self loathing thoughts. He thought he was getting better at dealing with his hybrid nature, _but noooo_. He felt a growl begin to sound from the back of his throat. And still she _wouldn't._   _Shut_. _Up_. "They are evil. Obsessive. They feed off human misery and..." She trailed off, finally taking the hint.

He was furious. He knew he was snarling and showing his teeth. Like an animal.

_You really are a wild animal, aren't you?_

_Shut up_.

"And what? Huntress? Gonna accuse us of anything else?" _What else do you want to call me? Huh? There are a couple of insults you haven't used yet, you know._

"I didn't mean you," she began backtracking both verbally and literally. That made him angrier.

Oh no of course _not_ , she meant the other ghosts who were exactly the _same_ as him. But not him, because he violated her rule of humans good ghosts bad. "Oh? Why not? I am a ghost!"

She fled further from him. And he persued her like the _predator_ he is. Her suit sprang to live at the presence of clear and present _danger_. _Him_.

"Only by half, right?"

"And thus your oh so tactful question. Well, what if I told you that I am just as much ghost as human?" She shuddered. "What would you do? What are you trying to prove!?" He floated even closer to her. The prey cornering the huntress. Snarling and howling like a mongrel. "I am a liar as you well know. I can be animalistic, I have an obsession. So, Red Huntress explain to me what you mean by you weren't talking about me,"

She didn't even have the guts to say what she really thought of him. She wanted to keep playing _pretend_. _Pulling_ on his core. Laughing with him and acting like a _friend_ one minute. Cowering and calling him a _monster_ the next.

_You don't get to pick and choose. Either kill your friend because he is truly a monster. Or put up with the monster your friend truly is. Come on huntress choose. Now that you know who I am, you can't hate Phantom and then claim you love Fenton._

He hated how scared she looked.

_Do you hate it? Really? Isn't there a small part of you that enjoys seeing her cower before you? The great Red Huntress who has caused you so much pain and frustration, trembling at your feet._

_No._ He isn't that much of a monster _._

_Keep telling yourself that. After all you only promised not to lie to her, lying to yourself is still A OK._

The gun materialized in her hand.

_This is it. She will shoot you and you deserve it._

She still didn't raise her gun.

_Defend yourself, after all there's a predator out for your blood. Why won't you fight back?_

_Why won't you shoot me? Shoot me and show me what you really think of me. Shoot the monster. The wild rabid animal that you think I am._

_Well, isn't she right? Aren't you a wild animal?_

Instead of firing her gun she took of her helmet. She stared him down. Her eyes met his. "That's why I asked, Danny!" She called him _Danny_. Not Phantom. Not even Fenton. _Danny._ "you are asking me to _trust_ you. You go to my _school_ , for heaven's sake!! You just told me that you're...That you think you might... Have _died_!" She was frantic and desperate. But she was calling him by his name. She was mourning her friend. She was considering his request to trust him. And she still wasn't raising her gun. "You have an obsession⁈ Do you not realize how unstable that can make you? We both know that you are ridiculously powerful and you yourself admitted that you are _dangerous_! I am sorry, but I need to know. How much does this, this being what you are, affect you?"

She is right. About everything. He is unstable. He is _dangerous_. _I'm inevitable_. It does effect him.

Much more than he would like to admit.

He shouldn't be angry with her because she sees through his human disguise. Sam and Tucker have seen his mask slip a couple of times. But they like him are ready and willing to _repress_ it. _Ignore_ it. He should've known Valarie wouldn't be like that. "Yeah, I get it. I hate it, but I get your point." His anger was no where near gone. But it wasn't fair for him to be mad at her and take it out on her, just because she is _right_. "But I am still _me_. I am not overshadowed or anything. I am just me. I just... Yeah, OK I have an obsession and some ghostly instincts, but I am no different,"

"I thought we agreed on no more lies, Danny"

Again she saw through him. Bullsht he isn't any different.

"And I thought we agreed that we could start over, but you are being just as closed minded as before! Ghosts aren't inherently evil!" He knows that snarling at her was not the best way to get his point accross. Especially if his point is how he is just like a normal civilized human being.

"We can start over. I have changed, I am asking questions without the gun pointed at your head that should count for something!" He knows that. He can see her fighting, with herself and her own instincts, to not shoot him. "But I cannot ignore this. You want me to just not ask. You don't want me to question your _inhuman_ behavior," He hated that word _inhuman_. But she was right. yeah he should have known his usual method of ignore the problem, wouldn't work with her. "I am sorry but that just makes it that much clearer that I have to,"

"Please, Val look there are good ghosts and bad ghosts, just like humans. Ghosts have a couple animal like instincts that are a bit more... Pronounced..." _Yeah, so you see that is why I snarl and growl like a savage beast. I can't help it. Yeah, great argument_. "then humans have. But humans do have some, just ask Jazz and she can give you a whole dissertation on them. Yeah, ghosts can be obsessive, but so can humans. Hell, my parents obsess over ghost hunting to an unhealthy degree,"

"What about the jewels you stole?! When you kidnapped the mayor? Is that what a good ghost does or were you following some instinct or obsession?" Oh. That. Yeah, well she's asking questions for a change. And she seems willing to listen to the answer. 

"The jewels...Yeah I guess in a way I was following an instinct," he murmered, he had never thought about why the staff worked or how. It probably tapped into one of his instincts. He shook his head he needed to explain the context before she jumps to conclusions. "There was this guy, named Freakshow who had this...Staff that controlled ghosts. Like mind control stuff. He was the one that wanted the jewels. I... couldn't do anything to stop it...I don't even remember much of what I did..." He remembers the staff. The color red. Sam falling and screaming. Moments of his mas...Of _Freakshow_ saying things to him. Terrible things. He didn't quite remember what though. "It was... _terrifying_ ,"

He quickly shook his head before he could think about that, and call up even more major problems with his brain. "And the mayor? He was overshadowed by a ghost named Walker who wanted to turn the whole town against me. He succeeded," he sighed. "The last thing he said before he grabbed me, and not the other way around by the way, was 'now they will never trust you', can't exactly say he was wrong. You don't trust me,"

"How can I? What about the manipulation? The lies? How do I know that the Danny Fenton I knew wasn't just another trick? How can I even _believe_ you? Let alone ever _trust_ you again?"

Yeah, he got her point. It sucked. But he understood. Especially since Valarie was no stranger to people manipulating her and never revealing their true colors.

"Yeah, I am a liar, we've established that. I've lied to everyone I know," He never really stops lying. Lying to everyone. Lying to his parents. His sister. His friends. Himself. "I've lied to protect others. I've lied to protect myself," Although, mostly he lies to protect himself. Some hero. "I am not what I try to convince everyone I am, is that manipulative?" He has perfected this mask of Danny Fenton the clumsy, wimpy, scared little kid with an embarrassing bladder problem. Wasn't that manipulation? "Maybe. Does that mean that no one really knows who I am?..." Kinda. Sam and Tucker know a lot, but even they don't know how truly _inhuman_ he is. They have never seen him in a full on animalistic battle rage. They don't know that he has to remind himself to breathe or blink sometimes. They don't know that there are days when he fights more ghosts then he says he does. Days when he fights less, and instead just goes to the Zone to re-energize and drink in the otherworldly atmosphere. They don't know how messed up his thoughts are at times. How messed up he is becoming. "Maybe. But I _swear_ , cross my heart and core, to you that though I may lie about some things," _A_ _lot of things. A lot more things than I want to admit. Almost everything_. "I have _never_ lied about this, I just want to help and I promise I am not evil. The things that people accuse me off all are taken out of context. I don't force others to do something against their will, and I don't use tricks to get them to do what I want them to do, I am not trying to trick you. I am just me, just well...A little bit more...Dead?"

"Plasmus does,"

"Yeah, ... Well the last thing I want to be is like that fruitloop,"

"But you _are_ like him, aren't you?"

Another fresh can of _N_ _ope_. He became very very nervous. She can't know about Vlad. At all. "I don't know what you are talking about,"

"You're both half ghosts,"

Oh, Ancients no. Bad. Bad. This was bad.

"You know?"

"I know. You and Vlad are both lying about who you really are. You're both dangerous and powerful enough to take what you want, consequences be damned,"

_You wanna talk about consequences?! Do you even know what could happen to you, just for knowing about Vlad?_ Oh this was so bad. All his fault. "Does he know you know?! Valarie this is serious! You could be in danger!"

"I can handle myself!" Her gun wirred at her side.

_Vlad's the one that gave you your original suit. No you can't handle yourself. You can't even take me down. And I have been holding back like crazy. No. No. No_.

"Against Vlad? Valarie he won't hesitate to replace a pawn. He sees people as a means to an end; they are only worth something if he can use them to get what he wants. If he knows you know he will come after you!" How can he get her to see that Vlad will crush her like the bug he thinks she is.

"Let him," she growled. "I can pay him back for using me!"

"Valarie you won't win against him!"

"I don't care!"

"Facing Vlad is suicide!" Valarie is in danger. He has to protect her. Vlad cannot ever know. Valarie cannot ever be allowed to face Vlad alone. No. No. No. "You cannot do that!" His core was aching again. He grabbed her arms, maybe he could shake some sense into her. "I won't _let_ you do that!," he will stop her. Stop Vlad from hurting her.

" _Let_ me?" Her suit sparked and shocked him off of her. "Listen here, Phantom! I don't care if you think you are protecting me or whatever else your stupid obsession is! I don't know who you think you are Mr. Amity Park Hero! But You don't get to _let_ me do anything! And you don't get to _decide_ what _I_ do!"

Oh. Yeah, he understood her point. He was doing it again. Seeing people as _his._ She was flat out telling him that she wasn't his _possession_ ; not his to protect. His core lurched in rebellion because,  _yes she was._ She was _his_. She was _his friend_. _His_. He needed to protect her.

"That came out wrong," But oh, Ancients he can't let her face Vlad. Not alone.

"Yeah, it did."

" _Please_ Val, you can't go after him. You _won't_ win," He was pleading with her. But if she didn't agree on her own, he would have to make sure she doesn't get hurt. He couldn't take her suit anymore. He wasn't sure what he could do to stop her. But he will find away. She will not face Vlad. Absolutely not. Vlad will _not_ get her. She is _his_.

"What do you expect me to do, then?! Keep working for that creep? Pretend that I don't know what he is?!"

"Valarie he could kill you, he could use your father against you, he could destroy everything you care about. That's what he does,"

"Speaking from experience?"

_Yeah, pretty much._

"I'll be careful," She said, not really convincing anyone.

He was whimpering now. But he didn't care if that's what it took to keep her safe he would get down on his hands and knees and beg."Please Val, I... Let me... I..."

"Just want to help?" She finished for him. He nodded and the pain in his core flared up again.

"Fine. There's something you can help me with..." he looked at her. What could he do? What did she need? It wasn't about fighting Vlad, right?

She sighed. "This... Suit...It is well... I think it's a part of me. And I am not talking about a metaphorical the Red Huntress is me way, I mean it is _inside_ me,"

Oh. Ohhhhh.

He cringed. "Technus,"

She looked a little confused so he explained, "the electronic ghost that wanted to use the satellite computer to take over the world. He took control of your suit. And then did something to you to upgrade it. It looked like it hurt,"

She noded. "It did. It felt like he was frying my system with me inside,"

He winced in sympathy, remembering his own electrocution. Another thing he didn't want anyone else to have to experience. Another way she was like him. "Yeah, shockingly electrocution is not fun. 1 out of 10, would not recommend,"

"Oh god, Danny that was just bad," _That_ _was the point Val. When the puns are this bad people can't help but laugh. And forget whatever thing they happened to be thinking of before._

"Would you say it was painful?" He asked with a smirk.

"Yes,"

"More so than electrocution?" He asked in a fake innocent voice.

"I am tempted to say yes,"

He laughed.

"Anyway," she said pushing on. She signaled for him to shut up, and he did. Back to serious matters. He hated being serious. He was dead set on never being dead serious. "Ever since then, well...I think it bonded to me. It's a literal part of me. It responds to my thoughts, sometimes _before_ I even realize I have them. And...I ... I _feel_ it no matter what, like it's in my bloodstream,"

Yeah, he thought she might. When he saw it first bond to her he was beyond worried. It sounded too _familiar_. The ecto electricity running through her. He had hoped and hoped he was _wrong_. But he had seen her new suit. They way it seamlessly reads her mind. They way it transforms her. They way it glows slightly. The way it hums slightly. The way he can tell when she's near as if she had some sort of ecto signature.

"I know what you want to ask me," _J_ _ust ask it. Because I don't think I have the strength to just straight up tell you._

"Danny, I don't feel... Completely _human_ anymore,"

"I'm sorry. So sorry Val. This is all my fault,"

What else could he say. He couldn't lie to her about this. Even though he knows a part of her would rather a lie. Just like a part of him would love it, if he was just a superhero with cool powers. But he knows he's not.

"So I'm not? I'm really something else?" She fell to the ground again. In an all too familiar way. With an all too familiar expression on her face. Asking all too familiar questions. And pleading for someone to give better answers then the truth.

"Your not a halfa. You still have a beating heart, in both forms. You are still _alive_ ," He sat down beside her. He could only offer her that small comfort. Better than what he has, at least. _Yeah you're not human. You're a freak, but here's something that will cheer you up, your not the biggest freak, I am still a bigger freak than you_. But this wasn't about him, or his crappy copping mechanisms, or his deep seeded self disgust at what he is. This is about Valarie. Who was now having to come to terms with something he wouldn't wish on anyone.

"But I am not... _human_ ," she asked numbly. He knew what was going through her head, he remembered when all those thoughts went through his own.

"Not completely. You have a slight echo of an ecto-signature and it's not Technus's it really is _yours_. You're..." Well it worked for him. _You're a superhero_. It's cooler than freak. And easier to think about then inhuman. "you are kinda like Iron man, y'know when he had the arch reactor as a part of him?"

Neither of them were comic book heroes. They weren't human. He wasn't even alive. They were freaks. That was what was the truth.

The truth _sucked_.

"I feel more like cyborg," She gave him a week smile. She looked like she was going to throw up.

"I didn't peg you as a D.C. fan, Val. Personally I always preferred marvel," he said with a laugh. _Come on, laugh. You feel better if you try and laugh._

_Now that I dragged you into the hell that is my life, stole your humanity away from you, let me teach you all of my unhealthy horrible ways of not dealing_. Ancients he was despicable.

_How selfish of you, did you secretly want someone who could understand you?_

She laughed with him, "yeah, great power comes great responsibility?"

"That's me your friendly neighborhood Phantom,"

"Explains the dorky spandex,"

"Hey! Blame my parents for that one. Y'know when they made me this jumpsuit I kid you not I told them that 'I wouldn't be caught dead in it'... And... Well, now look at me,"

"And the logo?"

He felt the cold blush again, "Sam,"

"Really? I didn't think she was a superhero fan,"

"Not as much as Tuck or me, but yeah. Although, she could have just been teasing me,"

"Makes sense. You do make it too easy,"

"Hey!"

"I didn't know that you could blush as a ghost," At that comment he felt even more cold ectoplasm rush to his cheeks, he must have been glowing brighter. She laughed.

It was nice being with her and laughing. He could almost pretend that they were just hanging out after school.

Pretend the earlier altercations hadn't happened.

Two completely _normal_ kids.

_Yeah, right._

What now?" She asked after an awkward silence.

"Well, can we maybe..." Fix everything that happened between them. He wasn't kidding when he talked about wanting to start over. "form a truce? It wouldn't be the first time, we worked together. Just one that...doesn't stop? I mean it be much easier projecting Amity with some help," He hated himself for bringing her in, but he couldn't deny that she was a huge help.

He hated that he was almost glad that what happened to her had happened.

"And Vlad?" She asked.

"As far as he knows you are his clueless pawn,"

"And you want me to pretend to stay that way?" She was going to fight him on this again.

"You would be safer,"

"Screw safe! My life is never going to be safe anymore! _Look_ at me!" As she said that her armor sparked again, red electricity making him jump back a little. _Look at what you did to her. She will never be safe because of you. Some hero_. "Besides, someone should remind Vlad how to play chess, because a _pawn_ can become the freakin' _Queen_! I am already involved with him," _and who's fault was that_. _It's all your fault_. "so you don't get to tell me it's too dangerous! He has been _using_ me! He tried to get me to commit _murder_! He wanted me to kill an innocent girl! He encouraged and helped me try to kill _you_! I can't just stop, I am in too deep already!"

"I know. I know. Your right, but please Val, please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt,"

"I am not your damsel in distress, Danny!"

Ugh. She just wouldn't let him protect her. She always refused his help, even when she so obviously needed it. It drove him mad. And it caused his core to throb with pain.

"I know that!... " _You don't have to do this alone!_ How can he get her to stop this? Stop hurting herself. He can't. She was just as involved as him. And no one could ever get him to stop. Ancients, he was a hypocrite. What could he say to her. "but you can still... Val, you are _alive_ , whatever else has happened to you. Whatever else you may be now. Whatever else you may have lost. _You still have that!_ You are _alive_!" _Unlike me. Please you're already so much like me. Get out before it's too late. Please._ "And that means that you can... _die_ , and... I know that you said I ruined your life. I know that Vlad and Technus have irreversibly changed you, but... Val, you have so much more to lose,"

_Y_ _ou have no idea what I would give to be fully alive again. Don't throw that away. Don't ever forget that you are alive._

"I'll be careful," No, she won't. Because that's another way they are similar. "But I am not just going to sit on the sidelines!"

"Yeah,... I know. You are not one to back down from a fight,"

"Right back at you. ....Maybe together we can finally be rid of him,"

"What like... _kill_... Him?"

"Would that even work? Can halfas die? How would you go about killing something like that?" How to kill a halfa. Not exactly what he wanted her looking into.

Plus. He knew he would never be able to kill Vlad. Because he understood him too well. Because he couldn't ever bring himself to lose the only other halfa in the world. Well, him, Vlad, and Dani. But still.

"Even if you could... Would you really do that, Val? Kill someone?"

"Take part in destroying a human?" She murmured. "Vlad doesn't act like a _human_ " she snarled. "He is every bit as _evil_ as a full-ghost! Getting rid of such a creature would be no different," She then seemed to remember he was right next to her. "That has nothing to do with you," she hastily and pathetically added.

Of course not. She wants to pretend that he is not the same thing, same creature who doesn't quite act human or completely ghostly, as Vlad.

But he is.

He gave her a tired hurt smile. "I am the exception to the rule, huh?" He sighed. "What is it going to take for you to see that not all ghosts are bad. I am not good because I am part human. Vlad is not bad because he is part ghost. It's so much more _complicated_ than that,"

"Yeah... I always saw it as such a simple thing. I thought I was in the right. I had the moral highground. Now everything is so... _difficult_ ," She sat down and hugged her knees and looked away from him in shame.

"I get it,"

"What? You? Mr. I'm a good ghost? #1 advocate of give ghosts a chance?"

"No, I think that's Sam,"

"Wouldn't surprise me. She's little miss I will fight for any cause,"

"Anyway, yes I get it. You're forgetting how I was raised. I am a _Fenton_ , family of ghost hunters for generations upon generations. My parents wrote the book on modern ectobiology. Did you know that some of my ansestors are mostly responsible for the friggen _Salem Witch Trials_? Yeah, paranoia and _hatred_ of the supernatural or the _nonhuman_ , it's in my blood," _Which leads to terrible crippling low self esteem and self hatred when you yourself happen to be inhuman_. Sure he had been getting better, but no he is not okay.  "Normal kids come to their parents and tell them there's a monster under the bed, and the parents tell them 'no monsters aren't real and you don't need to worry about them'. Me? I got a lecture about how ghosts are not only real, but 'they are melavolent creatures who exist just to feed off human misery, and if you do see one let us know so we can dissect it! Sleep tight!' You have no idea how scared I was of ghosts when I was younger," he couldn't help but laugh. _Yeah, I used to be scared of the monsters under my bed. But now there's a stronger and scarier monster sleeping in my bed. Me._

"Hell, my family would have ' _move on lessons_ ' where we would come to terms with the reality of death so that hopefully when we die we could accept it and not leave behind an 'echo of our postmortem consciousness that would be fueled by ectoplasm and evil'" Huh, he had forgotten about those old lessons. His parents would be so disappointed that their lessons didn't stick. Another reason for them to be disappointed in him. "Another lesson I failed," He murmured.

He put his head in his hands and took a moment to compose himself before continuing. "Then the whole thing... with the portal happened. And surprise! Ghosts _are_ real! My parents _aren't_ crazy! No, worse than that, they are _right!_ " He barely thought about what he was saying. He was just a bursting dam. Years of his thoughts came pouring out of his mouth. "And I...I... Freaking _died_! and became the _monster_ from my childhood nightmares!... Now I had a whole new fear, _myself_. What I might become."

_I'm inevitable_.

His breathe hitched. He was shaking. He was breaking down. He couldn't keep going.

"After all ghosts are 'horrible vile _parasites_ that _suck the life_ out of people'," like he felt others emotions and could _feed_ on them. "We 'are _incapable_ of _real_ emotions and are only _pretending_ for the sake of _manipulating_ others'." _All your emotions and thoughts aren't real. Just fake. You are fake_. "Just ' _Imitations_ of the life they lost' ' _Selfishly_ lashing out at those who are still _alive_ '," Y _ou're so selfish. Why do you protect your town? Is it because it's the right thing to do? Or is it to feed your own obsessive desires. Is it because you feel guilty for dooming this world because of your stupidity. You should feel guilty. It's all your fault. Your fault. You absolute failure. You inhuman monster. You will never be human again. You're just an animal_. "' _animals_ without higher brain functions who are _slaves_ to their _obsession_ '! ' _unfeeling_ _chaotic_ _feral_ -"

"Danny! _Stop_! please!" She cut him off suddenly. She looked like she was going to be sick. She looked like she was in pain. His fault again.

_Way'da'go, hero. You just dumped all your crap upon her. She shouldn't have to deal with your messed up emotions. Fake emotions. Are you trying to hurt her? Manipulate her? You're a ghost after all. You freak!_

"Got a bit carried away," he said trying to make light of what just happened. _Ignore Ignore Ignore. Yeah, let's just pretend that that didn't just happen_. "So yeah, I know what they say about ghosts. I have heard it all before, to the point where I had it _memorized_ for most of my life." He still has it memorized. It comes back to him whenever he feels down, and makes him feel even _worse_. "Why do you think the first thing I tried to do was stop the other ghosts? Call it my _obsession_ or my _hero-complex_ or my _Fenton bloodline_ or whatever. But at the beginning I was just like you. _Ghosts equal bad. Humans equal good._ And me?... a freak stuck in the middle. Fighting off every single freaky instinct that had been _burned_ into me. Rejecting a part of who I was."

He still needs to get better at accepting himself.

_I'm inevitable_.

No. That is not him. And it will never be.

_But you're a monster aren't you, Dannyboy?_

Yes. He is. He has at least accepted that. But he does his best to be a good monster.

_Right, as if that's not an oxymoron._ Although that fits him well. _Always a freak. A paradox._

"Never even realizing the damage I was doing to myself. Jazz finally got me to work through some of it, but yeah as you can probably tell I am still majorly _screwed_ in the head,” he laughed. She doesn't laugh with him. She just watched him with such sadness.

"It wasn't easy but it was uncomplicated in the beginning. Toss whoever is terrorising the town back in the Zone and try to ignore my own self-hatred and feelings of hypocrisy." Because he knew he was just like them. He messed things up. He scared people. He refused to accept the reality that he is dead. He has a terrible temper and a powerful obsession. Why should _he_ put _them_ in the zone? Why should he force them back to where they belong, all the while ignoring that _he_ _belongs there too_. "Then I started to get to know some of the ghosts. I started to _understand_ them; I began to understand _myself_." What he had become. How to manage these insane instincts. How to be a ghost. How to be a monster. "Why they come here, what they do when they aren't trying to take over the world, what it means to be a ghost. And yes, I realized that it is so much more _complicated_ than anyone ever thought. That sometimes there are ghosts with non-destructive obsessions who just hang out in the human realm." Like him. Kinda. "What do you do when it's a human harassing a ghost? With the ghosts who are living peacefully? With the ones who just wanted to see their families again? With the ones who think that it is just a game? The ones who can fulfill their obsession and pass on? The ones forced to be a lab rat for the GIW or my parents? It's so so complicated. But morality always is. People aren't 100% good or bad, so why should it be any different after we die?"

“Is it wrong that I wish it was simply good vs. evil?"

"Maybe a little. But I don't blame you, just please don't let Desiree hear you say that,"

She laughed a little at that.  
"No," she agreed. She sighed, "Life and death are complicated, huh?"

"Who'da thought, right?" That got her to laugh too.

"Well, in life we humans get through the crazy complicated world with a little help from our friends. Truce?"

Really? After all he has done? She is willing to work with him? Willing to work with the monster?

He smiled, "Truce! And thank you Val,"

"For what?" She sounded surprised.

"For giving us ghosts a chance," For trusting a monster like me. I will try my best not to hurt you again. I will be good.

"I... Danny... I am... I am sorry. For _hunting_ you. For trying to... _Murder_ you. I... Want to trust you,"

"I know." But It's not safe to trust me. "It's a start. I forgive you. And I am sorry for ruining your life, for lying to you, for getting you mixed up in this crazy complicated world." _You should hate me for that. I turned you into what you are now_. "I understand if you _can't_ trust me completely. I am _still_ dangerous," _I understand if deep down you still hate me._

"So am I! I have _weapons_ inside me. I am a walking _battle drone_!" He could hear the self loathing in her voice. How disgusted she was with what she had become. He never wanted anyone else to know that pain. "But we are not the only ones who can be dangerous. So is any old human with a firearm or a knife. That shouldn't matter!"

"But you and I both know that it does," he gave her a sad smile. "It's okay Val, I know that you are trying," He offered a hand to help her up. She took it. "Now, I know I am going to fail that bio test tomorrow, but I should at least pretend to review before getting my customary two hours of sleep tonight," he gave a wink and a laugh. "Goodnight Val,"

"Yeah... It's been quite a night,"

Yeah. He probably only made her more confused. More depressed. More angry.

"So, Red Huntress have we ' _finished this_ '?"

"In your dreams, Phantom. We are not done, yet" and then she did something he never would have imagined her doing in a million years, she _kissed_ him.

_She kissed him_.

He felt her warmth in contrast to his own icy cold. The air was sharp and cold, and growing colder. It was snowing. _Oops_. He should probably control that better. He knew he was probably blushing bright green, glowing for all the world to see. She was glowing too. It might have been mistaken for the moonlight. But he knew the feel of an ectoplasmic aura, and the faint echo that her suit always carried was glowing brighter. He could hear her whirring like an overheating computer. She felt burning hot, it should have felt uncomfortable to him but it wasn't. His icy touch seemed to cool her down so she wasn't unbearably hot, in fact she was warm. She felt so wonderfully warm. It was the warmest he had felt in a long long time. He almost felt free of his deathly cold prison. His core was purring, vibrating in sync with her. Her hair was frizzing up and his was standing on end like he had just rubbed a balloon on his head. Ectoenergy was coursing through both of them. Her red heated electricity meeting his green glow and frosty cold. He usually hated electricity. How could he not. He was afraid of it. Afraid it wanted to finish the job. But this wasn't the portal. It wasn't Technus. Or Vlad. Or even the Red Huntress's electric missiles. No this was just him and her. The energy they always carried inside them now. Coming together like it was meant to be.

It was nothing short of _supernatural_.

He was speechless, gasping for air like he forgot that he doesn't have to breathe in ghost form.

" _Now_ , we're good. See you next time there's an invasion, _Team mate_ ," She responded with her own flirty wink.

Oh, ancients she was going to end him.

"Right," he said in a breathless squeak. He cleared his throat, "I've heard of kisses being electric but ...that was ridiculous...I think...I could get used to...that kind of ...electrocution,"

"Danny! Oh my god!"

"That was... Just _wow_..."

"You weren't too bad a kisser, yourself ghostboy," She rolled her eyes. "See you tomorrow at school,"

Yeah, tomorrow. At school.

She activated her sled and zoomed off into the sky.

He watched her go.

She had kissed him.

She. Had. _Kissed_. Him.

After everything he did. He ruined her life. Got her involved with Vlad. Roped her into the very fight against Technus that had cost her her humanity.

And she had kissed him.

He had always liked her. He had often wondered what would happen if they kissed.

He didn't imagine _anything_ like that. _Wow_. Was that his freakyness or hers? _Both_. Which is why it felt so good.

He had liked Valarie Grey the girl from his class. He liked being Danny Fenton with her. He liked that she made him feel a bit more _human_. His friends had told him he was beyond _stupid_ for dating her. For pretending that he could have a normal relationship.

But that kiss wasn't _normal_. And it was amazing.

He liked the Red Huntress too. He liked the competitive nature she brought out in him. He liked teasing her and annoying her with his banter. He liked when they would make truces and fight together at impossible _inhuman_ speeds. He liked her strong passionate emotions that helped fuel him and energize him. He liked that she made him feel a bit more _ghostly_.

He was secretly glad when she called him out on his creepy behavior. It was better than just pretending that he wasn't a monster. Instead she saw him. All of him.

She saw him when he was acting like a _savage_. When he was breaking down like a _lunatic_. When he was, from her point of view, systematically trying to dismantle her. And still she liked him. Enough to kiss him.

And then the real kicker. Valarie wasn't fully human either.

He couldn't ever have a _normal_ relationship. He _knew_ that. Had _accepted_ that. It was one of the reasons he never let anything happen with Sam. Because he knew it wouldn't work. Sam was too _human_. Sure, Sam would enjoy having a ' _unique_ ' boyfriend for a while. But, Sam would _grow_ , change, want to eventually leave behind this life. And he couldn't. _Ever_. So, he would play clueless and wait until Sam's crush on him faded. He hoped their friendship would survive. But they couldn't be anything more than that.

Who knows, if that was how he responded to a simple kiss, what might happen if he tried to have a relationship with a regular human. He wasn't human. But now neither was Valarie. Not completely. So, could he have something with Valarie?

He didn't know

_Could we fix our absolute mess of a relationship?_   _Oh, ancients I hope so._

Valarie who _understood_ far more about him, than he ever wanted her to. She understood the hard fights. She understood the _separation_ from the rest of humanity. She understood what it was like to feel like she had _lost_ something that she couldn't _understand_ , _explain_ , and most of all ever _get back._

She understood that he was just as much a ghost as he was human. In fact she brought it up with him, halves are equal, mathematically.

She was the only one who could take him down if the worst came to be.

_I'm inevitable_.

Could he do something like this to her. He had already done so much to her. Could he do something as _selfish_ as have a relationship with her?

He _wanted_ to. Oh, ancients he wanted to.

He wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to race with her and laugh with her and _fight_ with her. He wants a _ghostly_ relationship alongside a human one, he suddenly realized. He wanted to feel her pseudo-core whirr with his core. _Purring together_ , in such an intimate way that could only be shared with someone who was his _ghostly mate_. He wanted her to be _his_. He wanted to give himself to her. Anything she needs. Help in anyway he can.

_You would be helping her if you stayed away from her. Your involvement will only bring her more pain._

Oh ancients. He has doomed her. Doomed himself.

_We are not done yet._

_I'm sorry Val. I should break it off with you. I shouldn't get near you. I should leave you alone._

_But I want to try again. Do you think we could?_

He tried to imagine her response.

_She_ had kissed _him_. So maybe she likes him.

_Duh, she already told you that. You really are clueless. She told you she fell in love with you._

Fell in love with Fenton.

Yeah, but she kissed Phantom.

_I like her, she likes me. Shouldn't it be that simple?_

_Yeah right_ , like anything in his life was ever simple.

Still maybe just this one it could be.

_Yeah right_ , they were so _screwed_.

_I'm sorry Val. But I am not going to stay away._

_Oh we are_ so _screwed_.


End file.
